Who Was Abdul Karim Telgi, On Whose Life ‘Scam 2003: Telgi Story’ is Based

Mumbai: A new web series “Scam 2003: The Telgi Story,” will be streaming on September 2, 2023, on SonyLiv. The upcoming web series is directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Hansal Mehta and stars theatre actor Gagan Dev Riar as Telgi. Popular radio jockey and TV actress Sana Amin Sheikh will play the role of Telgi’s wife Nafisa

This web series is about Abdul Karim Telgi, the convicted counterfeiter of the Stamp Paper Scam. He was involved in one of the biggest financial frauds in India.

Telgi was born in 1961 in Karnataka’s Khanapur. His father served the Indian Railways. After the death of his father when he was young, Telgi sold fruits and vegetables on trains to pay for his school fees.

As a youth Telgi worked in Saudi Arabia for seven years. After returning to India, he became a travel agent. But his greed for easy money made him a master counterfeiter.

Telgi started making fake passports. Later in 1992 he began to counterfeit stamp papers. His counterfeits were so authentic-looking that he could sell them to government officials and businesses.

He was running his nationwide fake stamp paper business through a network of around 300 agents. He sold fake stamps to banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms in bulk.

It is said that he once showered Rs 90 lakh on a Mumbai bar girl.

His scam was exposed and unearthed in 2001 and Telgi was arrested and charged with fraud, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.

In January 2006, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Telgi died in prison in 2017.