TNN

Bangalore, Apr 16: The CBI special sessions court on Wednesday convicted Abdul Kareem Telgi, former assistant commissioner of police Sangram Singh and seven others in the multi-crore stamp paper racket. Former minister Roshan Baig’s brother Rehan and assistant sub-inspector V A Khan were acquitted.

CBI special sessions court judge Chandrashekhar Patil, after recording Telgi’s statement through video conferencing, convicted the nine persons. But the quantum of punishment was reserved. On Thursday, the judge will hear arguments of both defence counsel and public prosecutor on how to fix the quantum of punishment. It will either be equal punishment for all the convicted in the case or could be fixed on the basis of involvement of each individual. The punishment is likely to be announced either on Thursday or Friday.

The CBI had filed chargesheets against 12 accused in the case, including Telgi’s brother Abdul Rahim Telgi. He died during investigations. The other accused are Badruddin, Anand Thorat, Ilias Ahmed, Sohail, Sadiq Ibrahim Hudi and Syed Moiuddin. The case dates back to 1997 when Sangram Singh, then inspector of the K R Market police station, raided Shalimar hotel and arrested five people, including the Telgi brothers. While filing the chargesheet, the police omitted the Telgis’. And arrest documents were destroyed.

After taking over the case from Stampit, the CBI filed an additional chargesheet in 2005. The CBI stated that though Sangram Singh, Rehan Baig and ASI Khan were aware of the racket, they failed to initiate action against the culprits. Besides, they destroyed the evidence that would have led to early detection of the case.