Tuesday, February 7 2006 12:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Shaheen Telgi, wife of prime accused in multi-crore fake stamp paper scam Abdul Karim Telgi, has urged for bail in the Bombay High Court saying she was in custody for a long time and deserved to be set free.

Justice V M Kanade yesterday (06 02 2006) directed CBI to file a stay on February 10 and posted the matter for further hearing on that day.

Shaheen is facing the charge of aiding and abetting the activities of Telgi crime syndicate. Her counsel Ashok Mundargi argued that Shaheen was falsely implicated in the case and her only fault was that she was the wife of prime accused Telgi.

He further argued that Shaheen should be granted bail on merits as she was in custody since November last year but in case the court did not consider her plea on merits then she should be discharged on medical grounds as she was suffering from HIV/AIDS.

CBI prosecutor A M Chimalkar however opposed Shaheen's bai saying she was the prime accused and was holding properties in her name. These properties were purchased from scam money given by Telgi he said and argued that Shaheen was prima facie involved in the crime.