Sharad Pawar skewers Bhujbal, says he could have been arrested in Telgi scam

Chhagan Bhujbal, a backward caste leader who rose to be the deputy chief minister in 1999, was investigated in the fake stamp paper case

MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar ticked off Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal over his criticism for being forced to resign from the government back in 2003, saying Bhujbal would have ended up in jail in the Telgi case if he hadn’t resigned,

NCP founder Sharad Pawar responded to Chhagan Bhujbal’s remarks and asked party workers not to get distracted (PTI)

Bhujbal, a backward caste leader who rose to be the deputy chief minister in 1999, was investigated in the fake stamp paper case that broke out after the arrest of counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi in Bengaluru in November 2001. Bhujbal eventually stepped down in December 2003 after his supporters attacked a television channel that carried reports about his alleged involvement in the scandal.

“I read remarks made by some people. He (Bhujbal) would have been in jail much earlier if I had not taken his resignation then,” Pawar said at a meeting of district presidents, working presidents and district observers on Tuesday .

Sharad Pawar’s blunt comeback to food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal comes after Bhujbal attacked the 82-year-old veteran politician at a public rally in Maharashtra’s Beed on Sunday.

Bhujbal recalled allegations of corruption against the veteran leader by the then deputy municipal commissioner GR Khairnar in 1993. “You did not resign then, so why did you make me resign as home minister in the Telgi scam even when Telgi was arrested by me?” Bhujbal asked at the public meeting.

The statement by Bhujbal, who has aligned himself with the faction led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, led to a strong reaction from NCP cadres who held protests in Thane and Pune against Bhujbal. Ajit Pawar also sought to distance himself from the controversy ignited by Bhujbal, saying he did not hear Bhujbal properly.

To be sure, Bhujbal did go to jail much later in March 2016 when he was Maharashtra’s public works minister and was arrested in a money laundering case linked to alleged kickbacks in the Maharashtra Sadan case. He was in jail for two years before getting bail in 2018.

The Telgi case

Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind of a multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, purchased printing machinery being sold in scrap from the government security press at Nashik, printed counterfeit stamp papers and sold the same at discounted rates between 1993 and 2002.

The scam that ran into hundreds of crores of rupees was unearthed with Telgi’s arrest in 2001. Subsequent investigations revealed he had links with politicians and senior police and other government officers. In all, around 40 criminal cases were registered against Telgi in 11 states, including Maharashtra. Telgi was convicted in a number of cases registered against him and died due to multiple organ failure in Bengaluru jail in October 2017.