The CBI's probe into the fake stamp paper scam received a shot in the arm on Wednesday with a court in Delhi accepting an application by an associate of kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi in which he voluntarily pleaded guilty.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini fixed June 7 for pronouncing the conviction order and the quantum of sentence for Parminder, a close aide of Telgi, who had in March moved an application at the Tis Hazari courts to plead guilty.
The court also recorded Parminder's statement as an accused in the case under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Earlier, 33-year-old Parminder, had in his plea accepted the charges of possessing and selling counterfeit government stamps in the national capital region.
He also sought leniency in punishment and asked the court to sentence him to a jail term equivalent to the time he had spent in prison during the trial.
Parminder faces a maximum jail term of seven years as the CBI booked him under various provisions of the IPC, including Sections 258 (sale of counterfeit government stamps) and 259 (possession of counterfeit government stamps).
The court, however, deferred the matter to consider an application by Vinod Kumar, a co-accused in the case who also pleaded guilty.
Delhi police had on March 15, 2004, arrested Parminder and Vinod Kumar, accomplices of Telgi, at Vikaspuri in west Delhi and claimed to have seized fake stamp papers with a face value of Rs 5 lakh from their possession.
During subsequent searches at the houses of the two accused in R K Puram and Mahavir Enclave in south Delhi, fake stamp papers with a face value of Rs 55 lakh were allegedly recovered.
The duo, during interrogation, allegedy disclosed the involvement of one Deepak Kudale in the racket run by Telgi, the kingpin of the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam.
Kudale, a close aide of Telgi, is also an accused in two other fake stamp paper cases registered in Delhi.
The court had in 2005 framed charges against the three accused under various provisions of the IPC.