Bhujbal, Pawar deny link to Telgi

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today denied that he was involved in the stamp paper scam spawned by Abdul Karim Telgi.

The result of a narco-analysis test conducted in 2003 on Telgi, aired by some TV channels today, sought to link Pawar and Maharashtra PWD Minister Chhagan Bhujbal to the scam.

In the CDs of the test, conducted at Bangalore, Telgi said he made payments to Pawar and Bhujbal. Terming the reports as "irresponsible and baseless", Pawar said, "There is no need to take any cognisance of what a criminal has said."

"I am told the tests on Telgi were carried out three to four years ago. After that, the investigating agencies have carried out their probe. No one made any inquiries with me. I was also not in the government that time," he said.

Bhujbal spoke in similar vein. "An accused is levelling charges against me. How can one rely on what such a person is saying?" he said. Bhujbal, who was the deputy chief minister when the fake stamp paper scam came to light, said Telgi was resorting to such actions to "take vengeance" as he was responsible for unearthing the scam.

A special investigating team of the Pune police had ordered that Telgi be put through a narco-analysis test in 2003. When the CBI took over the probe in 2004, Telgi told the investigators that he lied during the test to divert the probe, CBI officials said.

They said the test became redundant after Telgi recorded his confessional statement before a chief judicial magistrate in Maharashtra.

In his statement, Telgi named only those chargesheeted by the agency in the high-profile Bund Garden case, which blew the lid off the fake stamp paper scam. Those chargesheeted included politicians Anil Gote and former Mumbai Police Commissioner RS Sharma.

The CBI had also questioned Bhujbal during the probe and cleared him of the allegations. Even Telgi did not mention his name in the confessional statement, CBI officials said.