Scandal could have been avoided

PUNE: The kingpin in the fake stamp paper racket, Abdul Telgi, was booked by the Mumbai police in four cases in 1995 when he was an official stamp vendor.
While investigations are still on in two cases, the remaining two cases, which involve bogus stamps worth Rs 6 lakh, are pending in court.
The value of fake stamps in the two cases, which are being investigated, is yet to be ascertained.
Despite Telgi being booked and arrested by the police way back in 1995, his racket spread over nine states. This only highlights a criminal intelligence failure.
Cases are either pending in courts or investigations are on or the accused have been acquitted.
The case in which the accused have been convicted involve stamp vendors Bhalchandra and Vinod Kulkarni from the city. The father-son duo were recently sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment. This case was registered in 1992 and the judgement came as late as in 2002.