Before being sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2006, Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind behind India’s biggest counterfeiting case, developed a counterfeit enterprise worth 30,000 crore.
Scam 2003 – On September 1, The Telgi Story was released. Hansal Mehta, the creator of the smash online series Scam 1992, is the creative director of the Scam franchise’s second installment. The online series, based on Sanjay Singh’s Telgi Scam: Reporter’s ki Diary, will be available on SonyLIV. Let’s find out who Abdul Karim Telgi, the story’s inspiration, was.
Telgi, a well-known figure in India, was the mastermind behind one of the country’s most notable counterfeiting scandals. Telgi’s life, which began in 1961, was a mix of ambition, inventiveness, and lawlessness, ending in a counterfeit empire that rattled the nation’s financial systems.
Humble beginnings
Telgi’s childhood was filled with adversity. Telgi’s father, an Indian Railways employee, died while he was a child. He peddled fruits and vegetables on trains to pay for his studies. Telgi eventually relocated to Saudi Arabia, only to return seven years later with a new professional goal: counterfeiting.
The counterfeit empire
Telgi initially concentrated on falsifying passports. He even established Arabian Metro Travels to assist in the transfer of labor to Saudi Arabia. His organization created forged paperwork that allowed workers to avoid immigration inspections, a practice known as “pushing” in the sector.
Telgi, on the other hand, quickly altered gears to a more lucrative venture—counterfeit stamp paper. He hired 300 agents to sell these forgeries to bulk buyers such as banks, insurance corporations, and stock trading organizations. The scope of this operation was enormous, with an estimated cost of 30,000 crore.
The law catches up
The scam was so widespread that it involved several police officers and government personnel. Telgi was finally sentenced to 30 years in jail in 2006. He was sentenced to an extra 13 years in 2007. He was also ordered to pay a 202 crore fine.
Personal life and demise
Telgi was known for his lavish lifestyle, which included regular visits to dance clubs. He was even rumored to be in love with Tarannumn Khan, a pub dancer. According to reports, he lavished a dancer with a sum of 90 lakh in a single evening at the bar.
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His life was cut short in 2017 due to meningitis, which was exacerbated by long-standing health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
In the end, Abdul Karim Telgi was a complicated figure—a modest guy who climbed to construct an empire, although one built on an unstable moral basis.
