A Delhi court on Tuesday framed charges against multi-crore scam kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi and over 20 of his alleged associates for selling fake stamps in the Capital, but absolved them of the stricter offence of printing the counterfeits.
"The entire evidence shows how the accused had established offices in Delhi, recruited marketing executives and spread their business of selling counterfeit stamps. Mere possession and sale of such stamps can not lead us to a conclusion that accused were also guilty of printing them," CBI Special Judge Dinesh Dayal said.
Charges under various sections of IPC including 258 (selling fake stamps), 259 (possession of such fake stamps) and relevant provisions of the Stamps Act have been framed against Telgi and his alleged associates.
While most of the accused were charged with assisting Telgi in expanding his fake stamp racket in Delhi, the list also included a sacked Delhi Police Inspector Puran Singh.
Singh was charged under section 213 (taking gift to protect an offender from punishment) of the penal code, after the court found him guilty of shielding the kingpin while investigating a related case.
The court which passed its order in relation to three different cases, however, discharged five accused -- Devender Mahajan, Amit Kumar, Ajay Grover, Jai Manchanda and Sanjay Raina -- after CBI failed to adduce any incriminating evidence against them.
"It appears that these accused had joined the services of Capital Services (allegedly owned by Telgi) in order to make a livelihood without knowledge of its illegal activities," the judge said in his order that ran into hundreds of pages.
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