The Counterfeiter: Abdul Karim Telgi and the Stamp Scam

Telgi and the stamp scam?
Didn’t that happen a quarter of a century ago? Why now? Because the complete
story of the counterfeiter and scamster has never been told before. Because
the story of the sheer innovation and audacity of an underdog needs to be told.
Because the complex web of corruption involving lawmakers and law-keepers
continues. Because the crime has all the overtones of a Bollywood potboiler,
replete with chases, corrupt government officials and policemen, political
chicanery, bar dancers and yes, a murder too! Because of the many unanswered
questions that remain, so many years after the crime and the death of Abdul
Karim Ladsaab Telgi in 2017. How was it possible for a man like Telgi to
establish a pan-India ‘business’ in 74 cities and reach such dizzying heights
of power and pelf, amassing a personal wealth of over Rs 17,000 crore while
swindling the economy to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore? How did he manage to
undermine the hallowed institutions of India? What was the size of the scam?
How did CBI peg the figure at a mere fraction of the guesstimated amount? The
Counterfeiter chronicles the audacious swindle by the flamboyant mastermind
in a blow-by-blow account of its execution, investigation, charge sheets,
legal developments, Telgi’s incarceration, trial, death – and finally
exoneration. An unputdownable true-crime dossier!