Abdul Karim Telgi & The Stamp Paper Scam – The True Story of Scam 2003 by Hansal Mehta

Hansal Mehta has given us some of the best web series including Scam 1992 where we saw the life of Harshad Mehta, the man who pulled one of the biggest stock market scams. Now Hansal Mehta is back with Scam 2003: The Telgi Story which talks about Abdul Karim Telgi, the man who was involved in a scam of 30,000 crore rupees!

This web series has been released in two parts on Sony LIV. It is based on a book by the journalist, Sanjay Singh who reported the story at that time. The first part of the series was released on 1 September 2023 while the next part or Volume 2 is supposed to release in November.

Early Life Of Abdul Karim Telgi

The story of Abdul Karim Telgi is no less than a Bollywood fantasy of grass to graces. He was born in Karnataka. He belonged to a modest family where his father was a Class 4 employee at the Indian Railways. After his death, the Telgi family plunged into poverty. Abdul Telgi along with his mother and brother used to sell fruits at Khanapur Railway Station to sustain the family.

After his schooling, he completed his graduation from Belgaum. He worked as a salesman after this and then as a manager at a Guest House in Colaba. He then moved to Saudi Arabia in search of better jobs. While he was there he realized the need for cheap Indian labour in Saudi and started exporting manpower there after coming back to India.

Entering The Crime World

Telgi started a company called “Arabian Metro Travels” in Mumbai. There, he was illegally producing fake immigration clearance for labourers seeking job in the Gulf. He was finally arrested in 1991 by Mumbai police for this forgery and was booked under several sections of the Immigration Act.

While in prison, he met another criminal who was involved in stock market dealings.

Ratan Soni knew about the negligence in the Stamp Paper Office and suggested Telgi to enter into the counterfeit business. With Soni’s help and some political connections, Telgi got the stamp paper license in 1994 and he also acquired the machines by the Nashik Security Press that was declared as ‘junk’.

The Telgi scam is also another episode that shows the accountability of police and government officials. Telgi had appointed a lot of agents in South who worked to explore the loopholes and inadequacies in the law and when the right time emerged Telgi and his team established a well-knitted network in many different states in India.

Telgi’s counterfeit stamp business grew two-fold. He employed almost 300 people who sold the fake stamps to bulk purchasers, including banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage firms. The total money involved in this was Rs. 100000

Aftermath and Investigation

The more shocking news is that most of these government organizations and institutions were not questioned in this regard at all. The Jaiswal report which was headed by a special investigation team to probe this scam was also not able to get all the answers. It was social activist Anna Hazare who filed litigation and on behalf of the public interest insisted on this special investigation team draft the Jaiswal report which had narrowed to a number of top heads both in the police department and political field.

Abdul Karim Telgi was finally arrested in Rajasthan and sent to 30 years of imprisonment. He also received 13 extra years for another scandal and the court fined him more than 1000 crores INR.

He also alleged that people who wanted to kill him injected him with AIDS injection and that he was denied treatment for hypertension and diabetes while in custody.

Wealth Amassed By Telgi

Telgi had a great obsession with Bollywood actresses and used to spend lavish amounts of money on bar dancers who resembled these actresses. He frequented the Topaz Bar in Mumbai’s Grant Road for a dancer who looked like Madhuri Dixit.

Telgi died in Karnataka while in custody as he was suffering from many ailments.

This was the life of a scamster who amassed so much wealth but died as a nobody. Shows that karma hits when it has to and spares no one. Have you watched Scam 2003: The Real Story of Abdul Karim Telgi, the man who committed a 30,000 crore scam?

Also read: Best Scam 2003 Dialogues That Stole The Show