Telgi:The true story of Abdul Karim Telgi, the inspiration behind Scam 2003

All eyes were on Hansal Mehtas' second installment of the Scam franchise after the enormous success of Scam 1992. The online series, Scam 2003, tells the true account of the 2003 India Stamp Paper Counterfeiting Scam that rocked the country. The programme examines how Abdul Karim Telgi, the perpetrator of this fraud, got to be one of India's most infamous criminals.

Sanjay Singh was inspired by the real-life events surrounding Abdul Telgi to write the book Telgi Scam: Reporter's Ki Diary, which in turn served as the basis for SonyLIV's OTT series Scam 2003. Gagan Dev Riar plays the lead in the web series, with Mukesh Tiwari, Sana Amin Sheikh, Bharat Jadhav, and Shaad Randhawa all playing significant roles.

But before you watch this over-the-top programme, let's learn more about Abdul Karim Telgi, who served as the model for Hansal Mehta's show's plot.

Early years in Abdul Karim Telgi's life:

Telgi, who was raised in a middle-class home, experienced problems soon after his father passed away. Abdul was a young man who sold fruits and vegetables on trains to support his schooling. When conditions deteriorated, the family relocated to Saudi Arabia; seven years later, they came back to India. But this time, everything would be different. Telgi began a career in counterfeiting, originally specialising in phoney passports. He later started a company that exported labour to Saudi Arabia. Due to this, his business, Arabian Metro Travels, was founded. Telgi used to make fictitious paperwork to help workers get through airport security without incident. The real reason behind his forgery.The true story behind his counterfeit business constructs the initial plot of SonyLIV’s OTT show Scam 2003.

The start of the fraud:

His phoney passport company was successful, so he expanded into more difficult counterfeiting jobs. He made some bogus stamp papers and was quite successful at it. To sell the fraudulent stamp sheets to large buyers, he hired 300 people as agents. Banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage houses all fell under this category. Through this con, Telgi was able to make almost 30,000 crores of Indian rupees.

Participation of police officers:

Telgi needed the assistance of the police and other government workers to pull out such a massive scandal. The Scam 2003 scandal's main co-conspirator was Assistant Police Investigator Nikhil Kothari. In the case, a number of additional police officers were also involved. Previously, Special Deputy Commissioner of Police

The real-life account of Telgi's arrest will also be told in Scam 2003. All of this began in 2006 when SM Mushrif, a police officer, used force to arrest Telgi and his accomplices. Everyone who assisted the conman in his scheme received a 30-year term of hard labour in prison. Another facet of the affair was further exposed by the probe. For the same offence in 2007, Telgi received a 13-year sentence of hard labour. His property was also seized at the request of the Income Tax Department to pay the penalties.

Death of Abul Karim Telgi:

Before going to prison, Abdul led a privileged lifestyle. He used to go dancing clubs like the Topaz Bar on Grant Road and shell out a tonne of money for one.bar dancer. Rumours had it that Telgi was in love with the bar dancer, Tarannumn Khan. Post the fraud, he spent more than 10 years in jail.

Telgi was a diabetes and hypertension patient for over 20 years, and was suffering from other ailments as well. Things got worse when he was diagnosed with meningitis. He died on 23 October 2017 at Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru