TELGI TO PLEAD GUILTY IN LAST CASE

Abdul Karim Telgi, prime accused in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, has decided to plead guilty in lone case pending against him before 14th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Hyderabad.

Telgi is the kingpin of the counterfeit stamp paper scam that was estimated to be around `20,000 crore.

As many as 43 cases were registered against him between 1992 and 2003 in various parts of the country, including two in Hyderabad and one at Visakhapatnam.

In most of the cases, Telgi had pleaded guilty and was sentenced to various jail terms.

C. Mallesh Rao, counsel for Telgi, said only one case was pending before the 14th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court which is a designated special court of the CBI. He said that his client asked him to move an application under the Plea Bargain Act.

Mr Rao said his client has been incarcerated for the past 18 years though the highest sentence Telgi had received so far in other cases against him in various parts of the country was 10 years. All sentences against him are concurrent and technically, Telgi should be free from all cases even if the trial court in the city convicts him in the pending case, Mr Rao said.

He said that will urge the trial court to take lenient view while awarding the sentence as Telgi has been lodged in a jail in Bengaluru since 1999.