Bribe plea does not save Telgi case accused,court sends him to jail

“Persons from public have to show resistance to such illegitimate insistence and rather should act as whistle-blower. Time has come where selfish approach has to be sacrificed for the sake of the society,” the court said.

The judge ruled corruption can be eradicated only with collective effort. “If bribe-giver withdraws himself completely and shuns the other,then dream of living in a corruption-free country would soon be a reality,” the judge said.

Owner of Blue Star Services,Narinder Singh,claimed innocence on charges that he paid Inspector Puran Singh Rs 8.5 lakh so he could be kept out of investigations into the Abdul Karim Telgi fake stamp paper scam.

Telgi’s fake stamp racket saw him appoint more than 300 agents to sell the counterfeits in bulk across the country,with unofficial estimates pegging the fraud’s worth at nearly Rs 20,000 crore.

Narinder Singh was taken into custody in 2001 following allegations that he used the counterfeit stamp paper,and he subsequently claimed that Inspector Puran Singh took bribe from him.

When the CBI took over the probe in 2004,Narinder Singh told investigators that Inspector Singh forced him to pay Rs 8.5 lakh in return for keeping his company out of the probe.

To this the judge observed,“I understand somewhat precarious position of convict Narinder Singh as he was in police custody and his prime objective would have been to come out of the same as quickly as possible.”

The judge,however,said he should not have given in to the inspector’s whims and fancies. “Narinder Singh was,unquestionably,eying his own interest and felt that in case he was able to gag the mouth of Puran Singh with money then he would be shown favour,” the judge said. Puran Singh was sentenced to two years in jail and a fine of Rs 50,000.