Wednesday, March 23 2005 20:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Abdul Karim Telgi, prime accused in fake stamp paper seizure case, was today (Mar 23, 2005) produced amidst tight security before a special CBI court which deferred the framing of charges to March 31 to decide his plea for discharge.

Appearing before the court, Telgi moved a discharge application through his lawyers.

Special Judge U D Salvi ruled that he would first decide on Telgi's plea for discharge before framing charges against him and two others in this case.

Telgi's lawyers, Jaideep Thakker and Vardhan Desai, argued that Telgi was not involved in selling of fake stamps in the said case. "The reports of the Indian Security Press that verified the seized stamp paper stated that stamps were genuine. Even the reports by Forensics Laboratory at Mumbai had confirmed the authenticity of the stamps," they submitted.

Thakker also argued that police, State CID, SIT and CBI, that have been carrying out the investigation in the fake stamp paper cases, have not made any recovery from Telgi.

Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat opposed Telgi's discharge plea stating that Telgi had violated the laws by promising a company, Poornanad, that he would sell them special adhesive stamps, which were available only at the General Stamp Office counters located in downtown Fort and suburban Bandra.

"Telgi, being a licensed stamp vendor, should have known the laws pertaining to the special adhesive stamps," Gharat argued.

Two associates of Telgi, Ramratan Soni and Sanjay Gaikwad, booked in the same case, were also present in the court. Their lawyers would file discharge application this week which is expected to come up for hearing on March 31.