Scam 2003: The Telgi Story is based on the life of Indian counterfeiter, Abdul Karim Telgi and is co-directed by the famous filmmakers, Tushar Hiranandani and Hansal Mehta. After the massive success of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, Scam 2003 is a story about the infamous stamp paper scam that happened back in 2003.
The financial thriller is written by renowned writers Karan Vyas and Kiran Yadnyopavit. As per reports, Scam 2003: The Telgi Story is adapted from famous journalist and news reporter, Sanjay Singh's Hindi book, Reporter Ki Diary.
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The web series' cast includes the likes of Mukesh Tiwari, Sana Amin Sheikh, Bharat Jadhav, Shaad Randhawa, and many more. However, all the eyes are on theater actor, Gagan Dev Riar, who plays Abdul Karim Telgi in Scam 2003. Whether we talk about his physical transformation, voice modulation or acting, it feels like he was born to do this role.
It was on July 29, 1961, when Abdul Karim Telgi was born in Karnataka into a lower-middle-class family. His father used to work in Indian Railways, while his mother was reportedly a homemaker. When Abdul Telgi was young, his father passed away, leaving his family to fall into poverty's clutches. To survive, Abdul Telgi started selling fruits on roads and in trains. While supporting his family, he also saved some money for himself, as he wanted to study.
After months of hard work, Abdul Karim Telgi managed to save some money and took admission to an English medium school, Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Khanapur, as he knew the importance of education in a person’s life. After completing his education, he went to Saudi Arabia to do some work. However, he soon returned to India as he couldn’t make it in Saudi but brought back a lot of experience in the immigration sector.
Soon after coming back to India, Abdul Karim Telgi met a travel agent, and together, they started a small company that used to sell fake immigration clearance documents to labourers who wanted to work and settle in Gulf countries. Initially, Abdul and his travel agent friend made a lot of profit as they managed to send a lot of workforce from India to Gulf countries. But soon, they were charged by the Mumbai police and were sent to a short jail term.
During his time in jail, Abdul Karim Telgi met Ram Ratan Soni, who was a stamp paper vendor, and it started a whole new chapter in the former’s life. During their time in jail, Abdul and Ram Ratan Soni shared information and knowledge about the share market, stamp papers and forged share papers. After completing his sentence, Abdul started his business of forging stamp papers with everything he had learnt from Ram Ratan Soni.
Abdul Karim Telgi started his own press on Mumbai’s famous Mint Road. In order to produce forged papers, he used decommissioned printing machines from the Nashik Security Press. In 6-7 years, he sold uncountable forged stamp papers to common people, brokerage, insurance companies, banks, and others. His business was reportedly worth Rs. 200 crores back in those days.
Abdul Karim Telgi had over 300 people as his employees, who used to work as agents with a prime focus on selling as many fake stamp papers as possible in different parts of the city. As per multiple reports, the reason why he managed to pull off such a big scam was because of the help provided by some police officers and a series of government employees.
Several names popped out once the scam was exposed, but it was Nikhil Kothari, who was an Assistant Police Investigator, whose name created the most noise. The reason behind this was the fact that Nikhil had a net worth of over Rs. 100 crores, despite being on a salary of Rs. 9,000 per month.
In 2000, Pune police arrested some men, who were in connection with the forged stamp papers and after months of investigation, they confirmed Abdul Karim Telgi’s involvement in the scam. The Pune police were keeping close tabs on Abdul Telgi, and finally, the case was transferred to CBI. It was in November 2001 when Abdul Telgi was arrested after the police officials caught forged papers. The court sentenced him to 30 years of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 202 crores.
When Abdul Karim Telgi was in jail, he tested HIV-positive, and it had a major impact on his health. However, it was on October 23, 2017, when Abdul Telgi passed away at the age of 56 due to multiple organ failure at the Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru.
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For the unversed, Abdul Karim Telgi was married to a woman named, Shahida Telgi. The couple has a daughter, Sana, but neither Shahida nor her daughter has appeared publicly. The mother-daughter remained low-key for most of their life. However, in a rare moment, back in 2017, Abdul Telgi’s wife, Shahida urged the court to fulfil her husband’s wish to seize all his nine immovable properties.
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The move caught everyone’s attention as Abdul Karim Telgi’s wife, Shahida Telgi admitted that her husband wrote her a letter when he was in jail and told her to use his property for a better cause. Abdul Telgi’s properties were worth Rs. 100 crores. However, the court has neither accepted the proposal nor declined it. It’s still in the process, as per the reports. For the unversed, Abdul Karim Telgi’s properties included some bungalows, a 14-acre land, multiple commercial spaces and 13 rented rooms.
No wonder Abdul Karim Telgi’s life has so many ups and downs, which clearly explains why Hansal Mehta picked his story as the next in his ‘Scam series’. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know.
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