Bangalore: Former Assistant Commissioner of Police Sangram Singh alleged in a local court in Bangalore that he was being made a "scapegoat" to protect an ex-minister in the Telgi scam and spoke indirectly about his role in solving the Rajkumar kidnap case connected with forest brigand Veerappan.

Singh, who had been arrested by CBI along with two others yesterday (July 7, 2004), alleged in the court that he was being made a "scapegoat" by former Chief Minister S M Krishna, Water Resources Minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge, former Urban Development Minister D K Shivakumar, Krishna's son-in-law, and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to "protect Roshan Baig".

He also claimed that he handed over Rs 20 crore to film star Rajnikant's manager in connection with a case of kidnapping by forest brigand Veerappan, and went to Chennai twice in this context.

Though he did not mention the case, Singh left no one in doubt that he was referring to the kidnapping of Kannada film icon Rajkumar by Veerappan and his subsequent release.

"They made maximum use of me and now they are making me a scapegoat," he said.

At the height of the fake stamp paper racket, Baig had resigned as a Minister in the S M Krishna Cabinet after coming under mounting pressure from the Opposition which had linked him to the scam.

Claiming that he was the one who busted the Telgi scam in the first instance, Singh said though he made 10 arrests in connection with the scandal in 1997, two of the senior officers did not take it seriously at all. He also alleged that a top Intelligence official in the State was also in the know of the scam from the beginning.

Singh made the claims when the first Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V H Sambrani asked him if he was ill-treated in the CBI custody. Singh claimed that CBI made him sleep on newspapers and did not take him to a hospital for a cardiac-related check-up he so desired.

Singh then said he wanted to make a submission and went on to make the claims pertaining to those making him a "scapegoat" and the Rajkumar kidnap case. Judge later told him that he just wanted to know from him whether he was ill-treated by the CBI and not the other things.

Meanwhile, Singh and two others -- suspended inspector Vali Basha and sub-inspector V A Khan -- were remanded to CBI custody till July 13. Basha and Khan also alleged "ill-treatment" by CBI, and the Judge directed the investigating agency to follow certain Supreme Court orders and see that they were not ill-treated.