Pune, July 03: Abdul Azeem Telgi, arrested from Bangalore in connection with the multi-crore fake stamp paper racket two days back, was today booked under a stringent law of Maharashtra and remanded to police custody till July 16 by a local court. Abdul Azeem, brother of the alleged kingpin in the racket Abdul Karim Telgi, was produced amidst tight security before judicial magistrate first class M N Bendre who remanded him to police custody for a fortnight.
Seeking his remand, prosecution said he was handling all the business transactions of prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi during the latter's absence. Abdul Azeem was suspected to be involved in the scam as he had financed purchase of machinery used for printing counterfeit stamps, the court was told. Prosecution also alleged that Abdul Azeem had appointed certain persons to sell the counterfeit stamp papers thereby causing loss of revenue to the government running into several crores of rupees.
Telgi, vice president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee's minority cell and Khanapur town Panchayat in Belgaum district, was taken into custody on July 1 by the special investigating team probing the scam. He was brought to Pune on a transit warrant today. The arrest of Abdul Karim's brother is likely to throw more light in the investigations, the prosecution said.
Several persons including a sitting MLA from Dhule, Anil Gote, officials of Nashik-based India Security Press, a police inspector of Crime Branch, Mumbai, and others have been arrested in this case.
All of them have been booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Bureau Report