Saturday, September 10 2005 16:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Even prior to the breaking of the 'Telgi stamp paper scam', Tamil Nadu police were facing a more serious racket involving faking of court orders masterminded by a Sri Lankan Tamil convict and another prisoner, which is being discreetly investigated by them.

Investigation by the state crime branch-CID into the scam since late 1990s came to light following the mysterious death of one Lingeswaran of suburban Ambattur, who was allegedly part of the racket forging court orders.

Lingeswaran, a murder convict who himself had come out of Cuddalore prison last month by submitting fake documents, was found hanging from a tree at Ambattur on Sunday, a day after he was interrogated by the CB-CID.

According to police, Lingeswaran, during interrogation had referred to the Sri Lankan Rajan as being the brain behind the racket. He had assured the police that he would help in arresting Rajan. A police official, on the condition of anonymity, said scores of convicts, undergoing sentences for various offences, have come out of jail by producing fake bail and acquittal orders mainly of the Supreme Court and Madras High Court acquired at a hefty cost.

The official said one person has been arrested in this connection.

Admitting that investigations had revealed the shocking racket, the official said the first inkling that something was amiss was felt in the late 1990s, when a couple of persons out on bail had failed to honour bail conditions and register their presence at a police station.

When a court was moved to cancel the bail to them it was found that bail had not been granted to them, the official said adding departmental action was taken against two jail wardens of Palayamkottai prison.

Not committing on the number of prisoners, who may have come out of jail on such orders, the official said it had to be with outside help and with possible connivance of jail officials and advocates. While Rajan operated initially from Palayamkottai prison in Tirunelveli district, Gurumurthy, the other one in the racket, is lodged in Madurai prison.

Rajan, hailing from Neercolumbo in Northern Sri Lanka and serving a life term for murder, produced a fake parole order himself and walked out of Cuddalore prison.

The official said almost all those who had come out on fake bail orders belonged to other states.

Recent criminals, who had secured bail on fake orders while criminal appeals are pending included lifers Vasudevan and Kumarasamy in March last year, brothers Kumar and Murugan in January last and Vasu and Masilamani in July last.

The police suspect that the modus operandi was to use a computer scanner to make a copy of genuine bail and parole orders of the courts after changing the name of persons and crime numbers. The documents were then sent to the prison through lawyers of those to be released.

Printing fake court paper was not so difficult as court paper did not have any watermark. Besides, it was not hard to use a 'dry seal' and emboss the court seal on the paper.

Two advocates, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said 'it is quite possible that advocates are not aware that some bail orders being carried by them are fake.'