Parties trade charges over scam

Mud–slinging by the ruling and opposition parties continues over the Telgi fake stamps case. Nitin Gadkari, BJP's leader of the Opposition, has been quite vociferous on this front and says, "I have enough evidence against the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the Telgi scam." He also plans to announce a new set of evidence at a press conference in Pune today.

Former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress had frequently sought the support of independent MLA Anil Gote who is now in a Pune jail for his involvement with Abdul Karim Telgi's multi-billion-rupee fake stamps scam, Gadkari told Gulf News. When the Democratic Front government was on the brink of collapse, Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and even Kripashankar Singh of Congress and Minister of State for Home, had "requested Gote hundreds of times to support their government," he said.

After coming up with a series of exposures on the Telgi scandal, he has demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the scam which, according to him, was not just an inter-state fake stamp paper scandal.

He alleged that Telgi had also invested his illegal money from the stamp racket into large-scale import of naphtha for adulteration of petrol and diesel. According to him, the racket was operated by Telgi's close associates, Antil Totla and Girish Chheda and further inquiry would reveal the Telgi's association with political bigwigs, top officials of police, customs, excise and sales tax departments.

Meanwhile, Bhujbal has filed a defamation suit against Sena leader Narayan Rane for his accusations against him in the Telgi scam.