CBI acquits 2 booked in Telgi scam

Mumbai: A special CBI court on Wednesday acquitted two accused, including the then assistant police inspector Dilip Kamat, in a case related to abetting the fabrication of records of the counterfeit stamp paper scam masterminded by Abdul Karim Telgi, who is serving a life term in a Bengaluru prison.

Special CBI judge P.K. Sharma acquitted Kamat and Ahmed Turk, a relative of Telgi, booked for helping Telgi in his multi-crore fake stamp paper scam through the fabrication of records.

The multi-crore scam saw the registration of multiple cases in Maharashtra between 1992 and 2002 and in other parts of the country.

Kamat, at the time of his arrest in June 2003, was attached to Dharavi police. He was booked on charges of conniving with Telgi.

The prosecution alleged that Kamat tampered with evidence and stamps recovered by Dharavi police in their raid, and helped Telgi in the cases against him.

Deputy inspector general S.K. Jaiswal, the head of the SIT which was probing the stamp paper scam, in his report had said that Kamat had taken Telgi to his Cuffe Parade flat in order to search the flat in January. However, when Jaiswal made a surprise visit to Telgi’s flat, he found that Telgi was having tea and chatting with Kamat. Though Kamat was arrested in June 2003, he was kept under suspension from January for allegedly giving special treatment to Telgi.

The prosecution’s case was that Kamat was paid lakhs of rupees for helping Telgi. The prosecution also claimed that Kamat had prepared false seizure panchnama and showed significantly fewer properties and articles.

Both Kamat and Turk were booked for conspiracy, along with the charge of helping Telgi in his criminal motives. It was also alleged that while arresting Turk, Kamat recovered around `10 lakh but showed a far less amount as recovered.