Stamp vendor held

PUNE: Authorised stamp vendor Chandrakant Lakhe (30) on Wednesday became the first person in the city to be arrested in connection with the fake stamp-paper scam which rocked the state earlier this month.
The city police arrested Lakhe because his seal was found on some of the fake stamp papers confiscated by the police during various raids. Lakhe was produced before the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) C.M.Bagal and has been remanded to jail till June 22.
Additional commissioner of police (crime) S.M. Mushriff told reporters that nine other vendors are under scrutiny for a suspected role in the scam. “This includes four from Mumbai, two from Pune and others from the rest of the state,� he said. Meanwhile, a delegation of BJP corporators including Vikas Mathkari, Ujwal Keskar, Mukta Tilak, Dilip Umbarkar and Medha Kullkarni met inspector-general of stamp and registrations Nitin Karir.
They submitted a memorandum, seeking protection for the common folk who may have unknowingly used fake stamp-papers for registration of their properties (flats/houses).