Bengaluru, Oct 26: Abdul Karim Lala Telgi, convicted in the Rs 32,000-crore counterfeit stamp paper scam, died in a Bengaluru hospital on Thursday. He was 56.
"He died of cardiac arrest in the ICU in the afternoon," confirmed authorities of Victoria Hospital, where he was brought from the Central Jail (Parappana Agrahara) on October 16 in a serious condition. He is survived by his wife and a married daughter.
"Telgi, whose condition was critical with multi-system failure, had a cardiac arrest on Thursdayafternoon. In spite of all resuscitative measures, he could not be revived and was declared dead at3.55pm," said an official release from the Trauma Care Centre at Victoria Hospital campus.
"After completing legal formalities, the body will be handed over to family members by night or morning," hospital sources said.
Telgi, battling diabetes and AIDS, was suffering from metabolic encephalopathy, a neurological disorder that affects the brain. He was on antiretro viral therapy. He was put on ventilator with life support system. Telgi's barrack will be emptied soon, prison sources said. The barrack is located near the prison hospital and he had the room altered with court permission, they added.
"Keeping in mind his health issues, the court had permitted him to get food from outside. He also had a small stove and utensils inside his room," prison sources claimed, adding, "All the material inside his room will be shifted out."
Telgi, first arrested in Mumbai for trading in fake passports in 1992, made a beginning selling jackfruit and vegetables on trains running through Khanapur, his hometown in Karnataka. He later switched to fake stamp papers and his business spread across 18 states and 70 towns.
Telgi flooded the market with fake stamp papers, greasing the palms of officials and police officers across the country.An anonymous call to Upparpet police station in November 2000 led police to arrest a man selling fake stamp papers, who said Telgi was the supplier. He was arrested a year later from Ajmer, Rajasthan, but he continued to run his racket from within the Bengaluru prison.
Rs 32,000-crore blow
His was a crime spread across 18 states. The fake stamp paper scam that Telgi masterminded, dealt the Indian economy a Rs 32,000-crore blow. He began by making fake passports and later foreign bills, brokers' notes, insurance policies, share transfer certificates and insurance agency stamps.
Vegetable vendor
Son of a railway employee who started off as a vegetable and fruit vendor in trains, Abdul Karim Telgi took to the murky world and attained notoriety as the kingpin of a multi-crore counterfeit stamp paper scam.
For over a decade, Telgi ran the empire as the mastermind of the counterfeit stamp papers until 2003. As the sensational scam unfolded, security and intelligence agencies pegged its size at a figure of up to ₹20,000 crore.
Hailing from Khanapur in Belagavi district of Karnataka, Telgi began his life as a vegetable and fruit vendor in trains.
After his education in the local Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, an English-medium school, he had obtained a B.Com degree from a college in Belagavi.
Later, he moved to Saudi Arabia and returned seven years later to Mumbai, where he allegedly developed links with the underworld.
He was arrested in 1991 on charges of cheating, but reportedly used his stay in the prison to learn the tricks of the trade from an expert forger. Telgi allegedly bribed his way out of jail. Acquiring a stamp-paper licence in 1994, Telgi opened an office at Mint Road in Mumbai.
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