Tuesday, February 22 2005 15:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Pune: The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Pune has rejected the bail application of suspended Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) Sridhar Wagal, arrested in November 2003 for his alleged role in the multi-crore fake stamp paper case.

Special Judge S M Shembole, who had reserved his order on the application of Wagal on December 4, 2004, yesterday (Feb 21, 2005) rejected the former senior police officer's prayer on the ground that there was prima facie evidence about his involvement in the scam, prosecution said today (Feb 22, 2005).

Deputy Superintendent of Police, CBI, U K Goswami, who was asked to file its say by October 27, 2004, by the court after it admitted the bail application of Wagal, had submitted that "the applicant (Wagal) had played a key role in the conspiracy hatched by Mumbai police".

"He was responsible for transferring seven cases (when posted as Joint Commissioner, Crime) to the Crime Branch unit at Dharavi where Assistant Police Inspector Dilip Kamath, the co-accused, was posted as also senior inspector Dattatreya Dal," Goswami said.

The idea behind this was to ensure that the custody of prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi was not gained by any other police station and to allow the organised crime syndicate to continue its activities unhindered, Goswami told the court.

However, Wagal's counsel Kurush Bilimoria said the former senior police officer, who had been granted temporary bail on medical reasons by the High Court, which was extended on a couple of occasions, had been implicated in the case.