Bangalore: Seeking to give a new twist, prime accused in the multi-thousand crore fake stamp paper scam, Abdul Karim Telgi, today (Dec 30, 2003) claimed another accused Mohammed Sayeed is the "kingpin" of the racket.

"Mohammed Sayeed is the kingpin. I have told everything to the police," Telgi told reporters as he was whisked away by police after being produced in a city court.

When asked about details regarding Sayeed, head of the Special Investigation Team (STAMPIT) in Karnataka, R Sri Kumar, said the man was arrested by STAMPIT from Kolkata on April 28 last year.

Sayeed was also wanted in stamp paper racket cases registered in Pune, as also by Crime Branch-CID. Currently, he is the custody of Mumbai police.

Sri Kumar said Sayeed, in his 50s, was in the fake stamp paper business earlier than Telgi. Sayeed specialised in recycling of stamps, he added.

STAMPIT sources said Sayeed was lodged in the same prison cell as that of Telgi when he was jailed here.

Telgi also said he is "happy" that the Karnataka Government has handed over the case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), from which he was confident he would get "justice". He claimed that Ram Jethmalani would fight his case in Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, second fast track court judge K Nagaiah Shetty transferred all fake stamp paper cases to the special court and directed all the accused to appear before it on January 19.