India's Infamous Stamp Paper Scandal Comes to Life in ‘Scam 2003: The Telgi Story’ on Sony LIV

The trailer of the second season of the hit streaming show ‘Scam’ -- titled ‘Scam 2003: The Telgi Story’ -- was unveiled on Tuesday. It starts off with establishing the lead character of Abdul Karim Telgi through the curiosity and the dialogues of people.

The second season of the show tells the story of India's biggest stamp paper scam plotted by Abdul Karim Telgi, which shocked the nation with its unimaginable scale.

It then goes on to reveal the actor playing Abdul Karim Telgi -- Gagan Dev Riar -- as a dialogue exchange reminiscent of ‘Guru’ takes place - “Kya naam tha?”, to which Riar replies, “Tha nahi madam… Hai, Abdul Karim Telgi”.

Telgi then explains what exactly is a stamp paper and it’s importance in the Indian economy as he says, “Agar desh ki arthvyavashta kuber khazana hai toh stamp paper uski chabi hai”, as a Garba tune plays in the background.

There are some compelling dialogues in the trailer, and the one that stands out is, “Saving saccount mein confidence jama kiya hai maine, cash bhi aa jaayega."

Telgi was a convicted counterfeiter, who started his counterfeiting career by making fake passports. He then started a business to export manpower to Saudi Arabia and opened a company.


For the same, he used to create several fake documents that would facilitate labourers’ smooth passage at the airport even if their passport had an emigration check required stamp or other issues that could raise red flags for immigration officials.

Telgi moved to more complex counterfeiting when he began to counterfeit stamp paper. He appointed 300 people as agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, insurance companies, and stock brokerage firms.

The show, which was earlier scheduled to release on September 2, is now arriving a day early on September 1 on Sony LIV.- IANS