BENGALURU: From selling fruits on a railway platform to building a multi-crore empire spread across the country using his contacts with influential politicians and police officers, Abdul Karim Lala Telgi had come a long way. After his conviction in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, he spent the last sixteen years of his life behind bars.
Born in Khanapur in Belagavi district, Telgi’s father, a railway employee, died when he was very young. Telgi funded his education by selling fruits and vegetables. Later, he went to Dubai and worked for seven years before returning in the early 1990s. Starting off with creating fake passports, he went big by creating fake stamp papers between 1993 and 2002 when his run came to an end.
After the first stamp paper case was cracked by Bengaluru police, it took them a year to arrest Telgi as he had managed to evade them. H T Sangliana, who had then just taken charge as city police commissioner, shared some details of the operation. “I got information from an informant who came and told me that he had been informing police officers about the stamp paper scam but nobody had taken any interest in the case. I summoned G A Bawa, then inspector, whom I trusted, and sent a team on the mission to Rajasthan.”
Sangliana said he realised the magnitude of the case when the informant mentioned that police officers were also involved and Telgi spent huge money on many powerful people. Recalling the operation, G A Bawa said, “After the case was registered in 2001, we had seized stamp papers worth `10 crore and `37 lakh in cash. We had arrested 11 people and chargesheeted 18 people where Telgi was accused no. 1. Our search for Telgi had begun. In fact, the previous city police commissioner Madiyal also had given out cash incentives to informants to gather inputs about Telgi.”
“In 2002, Sangliana shared with me the phone number of an informant. It took 2-3 months for me to get him on call as he was hesitant to share information. In August that year, the informant called me and said that Telgi was attending a marriage in Ajmer and was travelling by train. We reached by air and with the help of railway police, we searched for him but in vain,” he said.
“We bought some Pathan costumes and attended the marriage which Telgi was supposed to attend, but we could not find him. We searched lodges too. After a few days of search, we wanted to return. We visited a dargah in Ajmer and while leaving the place, I saw a man who was kissing the door of the dargah. I remembered the face as he had been previously arrested by Andhra police. I followed him as he entered the dargah and sat with a group of people. There, we found a person who looked like Telgi. My colleagues did not wanted to take a risk. But I just called out saying “Lala”and he turned around. We then were sure it was him, but I did not show any excitement. I just put my hand around his shoulders and asked him to come with me.
“As we came out, he recognised me as a police officer and asked not arrest him in public view. I made him sit in his car and took him to the Inspection Bungalow. Later, we took him to his room from where we seized valuables worth `35 lakh including cash, and then brought him to Bengaluru,” Bawa recalled.
Upon the team’s return, Sangliana made the shocking announcement at a press conference. “During interrogation, Telgi confessed to many things. As some big names cropped up, political parties got interested and they wanted this man to divulge the name of politicians involved in the scam.”
Asked whether any powerful people tried influence the case, he said that it did not happen at his level, expect one politician who asked him about the names of politicians linked with the Telgi scam. “After I retired, I heard rumors that he had been influencing jail staff and enjoying comforts like food from home, etc. He also claimed to be infected with HIV so that he could go out often for medical check-ups I but do not know if he really was infected.”
Was Accused Of Bribing Jail Staff
Even while in jail, Telgi was accused of bribing officials for extra facilities. In July this year, then DIG-Prisons D Roopa, in her report about the alleged irregularities in the prisons department, had mentioned that Telgi and AIADMK leader Sasikala were given special facilities and treated like VVIPs. The charge was, however, denied by jail officials.