Telgi claims he bribed top politicians

New Delhi/Bangalore: Fake stamp paper scam kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi had reportedly confessed to having bribed top politicians including Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Telgi, who also named former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujbal and former Karnataka minister Roshan Baig, said he had paid a total of Rs20 billion (Dh1.6 billion) to top politicians and police officials of Karnataka and Maharashtra, according to a purported video footage of the scamster's narco-analysis test telecast by several TV channels yesterday.

The test was conducted in December 2003 at the forensic science laboratory in Bangalore by the special investigation team (SIT).

"I cannot reveal the names. There is a threat to my life. I have been warned against naming them," Telgi said in a halting voice under the influence of the truth serum injected in him.

Big names

After repeated coaxing by the forensic experts, Telgi was heard blurting the names of Pawar, Bhujbal, Baig and two Karnataka police officials as some of his beneficiaries.

"Mr Pawar, Mr Bhujbal," he was heard saying on the videotapes. "Politicians are the backbone of this business," he said.

Maintaining that several politicians and policemen were hand in glove with him in the multi-billion-rupee fake stamp paper scam, Telgi said politicians could not be trusted.

When asked how the money was paid, Telgi claimed to have deposited it in the accounts of the beneficiaries in Indian banks and not in foreign banks.

However, Pawar told CNN-IBN channel that he had nothing to do with Telgi. "I do not associate with third class people," the minister was quoted as saying.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief said Telgi had only mentioned his name and had not accused him of any wrongdoing.

Defending Bhujbal, Pawar added that it was he (Bhujbal) who had exposed Telgi's scam and that was why he was framing the politician. Reacting to the reports of Telgi's confession, the Karnataka unit of the Congress rubbished the charges and blamed the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of the state for leaking the tapes.

'Inadmissible'

"How can you believe the confessions of an accused? There is nothing new in it. Even the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation], which took up the Telgi case, declined to take cognisance of the tape disclosures," Karnataka Congress general secretary Prakash Rathod told reporters.

"The H.D. Kumaraswamy Government, reeling under corruption charges from the mining lobby, is deliberately raking up the Telgi issue. The confessions are not even admissible in a court of law," Rathod said.

Questioning the veracity of the tapes and the nature of narco-analysis, city police sources said the charges had no evidential value.

"It is the version of the accused. Where is the evidence? The charges are not corroborated with material that can be produced in court," a police official remarked.