Abdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in a multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, started operating in Delhi and other northern states in 1999. He supplied fake stamp papers to mainly insurance companies and banks.
Speaking to rediff.com, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Economic Offences Wing, Dinesh Bhatt, said it will be premature to give any kind of figure on the money involved in the racket as the matter is still under investigation.
Stamps scam: The complete coverage | The Telgi tale
"We have so far arrested nine persons in connection with the case registered by us. Shushant Kumar Dass and Lalit Kumar Patodi were arrested from Gaziabad on Wednesday night. Rest were arrested earlier last year. Shushant, who is a receptionist in a private company, also dabbled as property agent and had helped Telgi in securing some properties on rent. But he did not know about the antecedents of the accused," Bhat said.
Investigations have revealed that Telgi started his operations in the capital way back in 1999 after he hired a place in Rajinder Nagar in West Delhi.
"He used this place as his base and spread his network to other places. He used to supply fake stamp papers to organisations ICICI bank and a number of other reputed institutions. He would show them a photostat copy of the certificate that he is authorised to deal in stamp papers. But he never told his clients that his licence had been cancelled," Bhat added.
"Telgi would hire well qualified men to get business, some of them MBAs," he said.
The scamster frequently changed his office to avoid detection.
"He hired office premises at prominent locations like Gole Market, Connaught Place and Bhikaji Kamaji place to impress his clients and get business from them. He had spread his network to Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana before he
was arrested," Bhat said.
A team of Mumbai police is expected to arrive in Delhi to question Patodi and Dass.