Abdul Karim Telgi

Abdul Karim Telgi (29 July 1961 – 23 October 2017) was an Indian counterfeiter.^[1] He earned money by printing counterfeit stamp paper in India, with the size of the scam estimated to be around ₹200 billion (US$2.1 billion).^[2]

Abdul Karim's mother was Shariefa bee Telgi, and his father Ladsaab Telgi was an employee of Indian Railways. His father died while he was young. Abdul Karim paid for his education at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Khanapur, an English medium school, by selling fruits and vegetables on trains. He later studied at Gogte College of Commerce, Belgaum. He completed his m.Com in 1984. Eventually, he moved to the Gulf, Saudi Arabia. Seven years later, he returned to India, where he began a counterfeiting career, originally focusing on fake passports. He started a business to export manpower to Saudi Arabia and opened a company, Arabian Metro Travels at New Marine Lines. He used to create several fake documents that would facilitate laborers' smooth passage at the airport even if their passport had an ECR (emigration check required) stamp or other issues that could raise red flags for immigration officials. This practice was called "pushing" in the parlance of manpower exporters.

Abdul Karim moved to more complex counterfeiting when he began to counterfeit stamp paper. He appointed 300 people as agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage firms. The size of the scam was estimated to be around ₹200 billion (US$2.1 billion)^[2] One aspect of the scandal that caused much concern was that it required the involvement of many police officers and other government employees including Nikhil Kothari, an Assistant Police Investigator who was found to have a net worth of over ₹1 billion (US$10 million), despite making a salary of only ₹9,000 (US$93) per month.^[3] Several police officers were implicated in the case. Pradip Sawant, then Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Branch, Mumbai, was discharged but subsequently reinstated after being found innocent. Then police officer S M Mushrif, known for the book Who killed Karkare took decisive measures in this case.^[4]

El 17 de enero de 2006, Abdul Karim y varios asociados fueron condenados a 30 años de prisión rigurosa . ^{[ 5 ]} El 28 de junio de 2007, Telgi fue condenado a 13 años de prisión rigurosa por otro aspecto del escándalo. También fue multado con 10 mil millones de rupias (100 millones de dólares estadounidenses ) . El Departamento de Impuestos sobre la Renta solicitó que se confiscaran los bienes de Telgi para pagar la multa. ^{[ 6 ]} Estuvo en prisión durante 13 años hasta su muerte en 2017. 

Abdul Karim padecía meningitis y falleció el 23 de octubre de 2017 en el Hospital Victoria de Bengaluru. Sufría de diabetes e hipertensión desde hacía más de 20 años. ^{[ 7 ]}

• Mudrank: The Stamp es una película india de suspense en hindi de 2009 dirigida por Shakir Shaikh basada en el escándalo de los sellos. ^{[ 8 ]}
• Paper es una serie web india de 2020 producida por Ullu , basada en el escándalo de los sellos y protagonizada por Rohit Roy en el papel de Telgi.
• Money Mafia es una serie documental que muestra los detalles de ocho escándalos en la India. El primer episodio, Fake Stamp Papers , trata sobre el escándalo de Telgi. ^{[ 9 ]}
• Scam 2003 es una serie web india dirigida por Tushar Hiranandani y producida por Applause Entertainment , protagonizada por Gagan Dev Riar como Telgi. Está inspirada en el libro de Sanjay Singh, Telgi Scam: Reporter's ki Diary . ^{[ 10 ]}