The Hindu : Paper chase

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 17, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Paper chase

IT WAS ALWAYS evident that the stamp paper scam could have taken place only with the existence of massive official collusion. There was no other way that such a brazen and extensive operation of printing and selling fake judicial stationery could have operated virtually unhindered for over a decade. It is no secret that the mastermind behind the scam, Abdul Karim Telgi, had influential friends within the corridors of power. To many, the recent developments in Maharashtra — where the stamp scam has taken a sensational twist with the arrest of Mumbai's Joint Commissioner of Police and the questioning of its Commissioner of Police — will seem like further evidence of the powerful patronage he enjoyed. Of the scores of people already arrested in this connection are two State legislators (from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh) and a few other police officials. Karnataka's Special Investigating Team, which in many ways has been in the forefront of the investigations into the nationwide racket, estimates that the amount of fake stamp paper seized by police in different States is worth over Rs. 3,000 crores. Astonishingly, this appears to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg. With almost every passing month, some evidence emerges to suggest that the web of forgery and deceit spun by Telgi was wider and more insidious than earlier believed.

The initial revelations about Telgi's network and influence in Maharashtra came from the Karnataka police, who arrested the scamster in late 2001. The police claimed they possessed tapes of Telgi's telephone conversations with police officials in Maharashtra. Suspicions that the Maharashtra administration was dragging its feet over the stamp paper scam case acquired a ring of truth when a senior State police official cast serious doubts about the manner in which the investigations into the case were handled. However, the events that led to the Mumbai Police Commissioner proceeding on leave and his deputy being remanded to judicial custody are the result of a public interest litigation filed only a few months ago to identify and set right the lapses in the investigations into the scam. Without the intervention of the Bombay High Court, which demanded and received a report on these lapses, the matter might not have proceeded as far as this.

The Maharashtra Government is not the only State administration that has been accused of attempting to soft-pedal, even derail, the investigation into the scam. Similar charges have been levelled against the Andhra Pradesh Government. Given the existence of such allegations and the fact that the scam has inter-State ramifications (more than 10 States have been affected), the case for handing over the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation cannot be summarily ignored or dismissed. The need for a centralised investigative process may become even greater if there is proof of Telgi's links with mafia don Dawood Ibrahim. However, the evidence marshalled to support this allegation thus far has been tenuous. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, has declared that the Centre is prepared to offer CBI assistance, but as things stand more than one State Government seems wary about bringing the investigating agency into the picture. At a more abstracted level, the scam raises the issue about why the country should rely so much on judicial stationery to conduct certain transactions. At a time when other countries have taken steps to dematerialise more and more instruments, India continues to be much too reliant on judicial paper-based transactions. The Telgi scam should serve as a wake-up call to modernise the process by which the country transacts its business, legal and related matters.

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