Fake stamp paper kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi dies in Bengaluru

Abdul Karim Telgi, who shot to notoriety around 17 years ago after his name surfaced in the multi-crore counterfeit stamp paper scam, died of multi-organ failure at Victoria hospital in Bangalore on Thursday.

According to doctors, Telgi was admitted in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) since October 16, and was on a ventilator after multiple organ failure at the trauma care centre of the hospital. His health was in a critical state and he was on life-support for the last six days. His health continued to deteriorate even as he was under constant observation due to respiratory failure, kidney failure and heart failure.

"He was admitted to the Victoria Hospital 10 days ago due to meningitis," said Dr Balaji Pia, special officer, Trauma Care Center. "He was put on ventilator and life support after multi-organ failure. On Thursday afternoon, he got a cardiac arrest and could not be revived. We declared him dead at 3.55 pm."

For a few years, Telgi had been confined to a wheelchair and was being treated by prison doctors for other ailments such as hypertension and diabetes.

"His body will be taken to his native place in Khanapur in Karnataka for the final rites," said a prisons department officer in Bangalore, where he was serving time.

Telgi was sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment in 2006, besides being slapped with a whopping fine of Rs 202 crore. He had been lodged in the Parapana Agrahara Central Jail for the last 16 years.

It is alleged that between 1993 and 2001, he cultivated officers in the government security press in Nashik and purchased machinery at government auctions to print counterfeit stamp papers. He then sold them at a discount to bulk purchasers such as banks, insurance firms and stock brokerage firms. He was arrested in 2001 in Ajmer.

A Special Investigation Team that was formed by the Maharashtra government to probe the fake stamp paper scam had, in 2003, also arrested former Mumbai police commissioner R S Sharma, immediately after his retirement, alleging that he had shielded Telgi. Three-and-a-half years later, Sharma was discharged from the case by a special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) in Pune for want of evidence.