Staffer’s death: Telgi gets 7 yrs

Mumbai, November 30
Kingpin of the fake stamp paper scam Abdul Karim Telgi and four of his associates were today sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment by a sessions court for the death of his former employee in 2001.

Telgi and his associates were convicted under Sections 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC.

In addition to the jail term, Telgi has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh. The court said the jail term awarded in this case would not run concurrently with the imprisonment he is undergoing for his involvement in the fake stamp paper case.

Telgi was convicted yesterday by the court along with four associates Mohammed Gous Shigavi, Sajid Khan, Maqdoom Tadkod and Kaleem Shamsher, while two other accused were acquitted. Telgi’s conviction in the case is the fourth out of the 48 cases filed against him. He is lodged in Pune’s Yerwada jail after being sentenced in one of the fake stamp paper cases.

When Telgi learnt that his employee Christopher Bhatti, who was working at his Chennai fake stamp paper manufacturing unit, along with an associate, had allegedly misappropriated Rs 3 lakh, he planned an attack on him.

In August 2001, Bhatti was reportedly attacked with hockey sticks at a flat in Cuffe Parade, south Mumbai and beaten to death.

The body was then taken in a car and dumped at a suburb. Bhatti’s body was found at the creek but could not be identified. — PTI