ABDUL KARIM TELGI SCAM 2003
Summary: Who is Abdul Karim Telgi?
Abdul Karim Telgi was born on 29 July 1961 in Khanapur, Karnataka, India. His father was an employee of Indian Railways and died when Telgi was young.
His mother raised him and his siblings on her own.
Telgi had a difficult childhood. He had to sell fruits and vegetables on trains to pay for his education at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Khanapur, an English medium school.
After graduating from high school, he moved to Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a laborer for seven years.
In 1988, Telgi returned to India and began a counterfeiting career. He initially focused on fake passports, but he soon turned to counterfeit stamp paper.
He set up a fake stamp paper company and acquired genuine stamp paper from the government. Using these as templates, he began the production of counterfeit stamps,
which he subsequently sold across the nation.
Telgi’s counterfeit stamp paper scam was one of the largest in Indian history. He is estimated to have made billions of rupees from the scam.
He was eventually caught and convicted of fraud, forgery, and other crimes. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, where he died on 23 October 2017.
Telgi’s early life was marked by hardship and adversity. He had to overcome many challenges to achieve success. However, his success came at the cost of fraud and deceit.
He is a reminder that even the most ambitious and determined people can be tempted to engage in criminal activity.
full story of telgi scam
The Abdul Karim Telgi stamp paper scam was one of the largest financial frauds in Indian history. It is estimated to have caused losses of over ₹30,000 crore (US$4.1 billion) to the government.
Telgi, who was born in 1961, started his career as a small-time businessman in the 1980s. He soon realized that there was a lot of money to be made in counterfeiting. In 1988,
he set up a fake stamp paper company in Mumbai. He used his connections in the government to acquire genuine stamp paper, which he then used to create counterfeit stamps.
Telgi’s counterfeit stamps were of such high quality that they were difficult to distinguish from genuine stamps. He sold them to a wide range of customers, including government officials, businesses, and individuals. The scam went undetected for several years, as Telgi was able to bribe officials to look the other way.
The scam finally came to light in 2003, when a police officer in Pune received a tip-off. The officer raided Telgi’s office and found a large quantity of counterfeit stamp paper.
Telgi was arrested and charged with fraud, forgery, and other crimes.
Telgi was tried and convicted in 2007. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but he was released on bail in 2011. He was re-arrested in 2013 and died in prison in 2017.
The Telgi stamp paper scam had a devastating impact on the Indian economy. It led to a loss of trust in the government and the banking system. It also damaged the reputation of India as a business destination.
The scam also highlighted the need for better regulation of the stamp paper industry. In the wake of the scam, the government introduced new laws and regulations to make it more difficult to counterfeit stamp paper.
The Telgi stamp paper scam is a reminder of the dangers of corruption and fraud. It is also a reminder that even the most sophisticated financial systems can be vulnerable to attack.
Here are some additional details about the scam:
- Telgi’s counterfeit stamp paper was sold in all 28 states of India and in several other countries.
- He had a network of over 1000 people involved in the scam, including government officials, businessmen, and college students.
- The scam was so widespread that it is estimated that one in every five stamp papers in circulation was counterfeit.
- The scam caused a loss of revenue of over ₹200 crore (US$28 million) per month to the government.
- Telgi’s assets were seized by the government, which included over 1000 properties, 200 cars, and several airplanes.
The Telgi stamp paper scam is a cautionary tale about the dangers of corruption and fraud. It is also a reminder that even the most sophisticated financial systems can be vulnerable to attack.