Telgi146;s aide held, remanded to custody

The CBI sleuths had arrested Haseeb at Prudential tower, Fatehgunj in Vadodara, Gujarat on Thursday morning. Special public prosecutor for CBI Raja Thakare sought judicial custody of the accused as the main investigating officer S K Peshin was in Delhi. Thakare said that custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary. He requested the court to send Shaikh to judicial custody reserving the right of the police for his custody for investigations after Peshin comes to Pune. According to the CBI, the accused is the younger brother of Shabbir Ahmed Mushtaq Ahmed Shaikh, a convict in fake stamp paper case. Investigations revealed that he was an active member of Telgi8217;s organised crime syndicate. Haseeb had opened a bank account in the name of M/s Vision Enterprises in Bharat Co-operative Bank at Modi street in Mumbai on June 8, 1999. Investigations revealed that this account was used for laundering money derived from the sale of fake stamp papers. An amount of over Rs 47 lakh was deposited in the account via different transactions, which was withdrawn subsequently.

Investigators also found that Haseeb had made several calls from his phone to the other accused in the scam. Haseeb had started an office at Ideal house, Modi Street in Mumbai in April 1999. A number of visiting cards and stationary of the accused in fake stamp paper scam were printed at Sujali Printers located at the same address. The payment for printing was made from the account of Vision Enterprises. The CBI had booked Haseeb under relevant sections of MCOCA and the IPC and he was declared an absconder.

CBI is investigating whether Haseen was also selling counterfeit stamps even after the arrest of other accused persons.