11 Mumbai officers and two legislators found to be involved in the $50b racket
Eleven senior Mumbai police officers and two legislators are being detained amid a mounting storm over one of India's biggest corruption scandals.
Yesterday, Mumbai police commissioner R.S. Sharma went on indefinite leave after being indicted on nine counts for acts of omission and commission by a court-appointed special investigative team probing a 300 billion rupee (HK$50 billion) financial scam.
Politicians' and officials' heads are rolling for colluding with Abdul Karim Telgi, mastermind behind a racket that printed and sold fake postage and revenue stamps worth 300 billion rupees used in court papers and property transactions through his well-oiled network in Maharashtra, Karnataka and four other southern states.
According to the investigation team, Telgi never hesitated to share his ill-gotten wealth with anyone who mattered. One of his key patrons, Sridhar Wagal, who belongs to the elite Indian Police Service (IPS) and headed Maharashtra's intelligence department until his arrest, amassed properties worth 1 billion rupees.
Telgi evaded arrest for more than a decade because of his connections in high places. Apparently, a few low-ranking judges were also on his payroll. But Telgi - and his powerful accomplices - ran out of luck after a Mumbai crime unit seized fake stamps worth 8 billion rupees from a warehouse in Bhiwandi, a town north of Mumbai, in January this year. The trail led to Telgi. During interrogation, he admitted having links with a few junior police officers.