Telgi denies paying ex-Mumbai police chief

Prime accused in the fake stamp paper racket Abdul Karim Telgi on Tuesday denied having paid Rs 22lakh to former Mumbai police commissioner R S Sharma, dismissing as 'wrong and fabricated' a Maharashtra Special Investigation Team claim to that effect.

"It is wrong and fabricated," Telgi told reporters outside the special court at Parapana Agrahara prisons on the outskirts of Bangalore where he is lodged.

Also Read Telgi paid Rs 22 lakh to R S Sharma: SIT

Telgi's statement comes a day after the SIT told the Special Court in Pune that he had, during a narco analysis test, admitted paying Rs 22 lakh to Sharma. The SIT had submitted a six-page report of the test conducted on Telgi in December 2003.

Meanwhile, the CBI has sought permission to interrogate Telgi, the hearing on which was adjourned by Special Judge A T Manoli to February 19. Telgi's bail application will come up before the court on February 21.

The plea of the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (STAMPIT) to conduct a narco analysis test on Telgi will come up before the court on February 13.

Meanwhile, in Pune, Sharma's counsel said the narco analysis test report has no evidential value. Vijay Nahar told PTI that the test violates Article 20/3 of the Constitution, which says that 'no person accused of any offence can be compelled to be a witness against himself'. Besides, the results of the scientific tests, which include Brain Mapping, Polygraph Test and Narco Analysis, are not accepted as evidence in courts.