Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator Krishna Yadav, arrested on Saturday in connection with the fake stamp paper scam, had allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore from prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi.
This is revealed in a tape in the possession of the Special Investigation Team, which was played before First Class Judicial Magistrate Anu Bhule in Pune, on Sunday while seeking the legislator's police custody.
The prosecution said the tape, which was recovered from Telgi's house in Karim Court, Colaba in Mumbai, contains his conversations with the TDP MLA.
Telgi had allegedly begun recording the conversations once the MLA's demand for money began rising.
On April 29, the SIT summoned Yadav and confronted him with the tape. The latter denied that it was his voice and that he knew Telgi. Then SIT sent his voice samples to the Central Forensic Laboratory, New Delhi, which confirmed that the voice in the tape was indeed that of the MLA's, the SIT said.
In the tape, Telgi called up the legislator to 'settle' the matter regarding the fake stamp racket.
After exchanging formalities, Telgi asks how they could settle the matter and the voice purported to be that of the MLA says 'two crore'.
Yadav was remanded to police custody till September 20. He represents Himayatnagar assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh and was arrested following a warrant issued by a MCOCA court
Yadav is the second MLA to be arrested in the racket under the MCOCA. Sitting MLA from Dhule Anil Gote was the first politician.
The ruling Telugu Desam Party on Sunday suspended Yadav, who earlier served in N Chandrababu Naidu's council of ministers.
The Maharashtra polity has been seized of the Rs 3,000 crore fake stamps and stamp paper racket for some time now.
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