Former cop spills the beans on Telgi’s links with Congressmen

The Congress party in Karnataka is finding itself in a tight spot after a retired cop’s disclosure on the links between the senior Congressmen and the alleged kingpin of stamp paper racket Abdul Karim Telgi became public.

The confessional statement of retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Sangram Singh that he saw former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna and senior Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge with Telgi at the residence of Krishna’s son-in-law in Bangalore during September 2000, has given the ruling JD-BJP Government an opportunity to hit back at the Opposition Congress.

According to media reports here, Sangram Singh, in his confessional statement before a City court recorded during July 2004, claims that he had carried the ransom money meant to secure the release of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar from the clutches of forest bandit Veerappan, amounting to Rs 200 million in two instalments during September and October of 2000.

According to confession of Sangram Singh, who has also been named as an accused in the stamp paper scam, a portion of the ransom money arranged for the release of Rajkumar could belong to Telgi. When Sangram Singh set out from the residence of Krishna’s son-in-law Siddhartha in Bangalore with eight to ten suitcases filled with currency, worth Rs 100 million, during September 2000, he admitted that he saw Krishna and Kharge with Telgi.

Sangram Singh, who is now out on bail, has claimed that he had been assigned of the task of taking the second instalment of eight to ten suitcases of currency, worth another Rs 100 million, during October 2000. He taken the currency-laden suitcases to Chennai in a vehicle belonging to the family of the Rajkumar on both the occasions.

Sangram Singh has also brought to light the role played by Tamil film star Rajnikant and liquor baron Audikeshavalu in the transfer of ransom money to Veerappan. The names of former Ministers in the S M Krishna regime R Roshan Baig and D K Shivakumar have also been dragged into murky controversy.

Though cop-turned-Lok Sabha MP Sangliana has already revealed that Telgi’s ill-gotten money had been used to pay the ransom for Rajkumar’s release from the custody of Veerappan, the JD (S)-BJP Government in Karnataka is using Sangram Singh’s revelation on the links between Telgi and Congressmen as a stick to beat the Congress with.

Coming down heavily on the Congress leaders for attacking him on the Rs 1.5 billion bribery charge, Kumaraswamy said the Congress leaders are now finding themselves caught in the stamp paper scam, which amounts to hundreds of billion rupees. “The Telgi case will expose the Congress leaders now”, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the coalition Government would like to initiate action against politicians and police officers involved with Telgi.