PUNE, 14 April 2005 — The Supreme Court has extended the bail of former Bombay and Pune Police Commissioner R.S. Sharma on an appeal against the judgment of the Bombay High Court, in the country’s biggest ever Rs.900 million fake stamp paper scam. Sharma was arrested on Dec.1, 2003 and charged with aiding and abetting the organized crime syndicate led by Abdul Karim Telgi, as well as conspiring with police officers in Bombay and Pune to help Telgi continue his unlawful activities.
Meanwhile, authorities decided to close down some 600 cabarets in Bombay, a government spokesman said yesterday, robbing the country’s entertainment hub of one of its major attractions. The move by the western state of Maharashtra, of which Bombay is the capital, to shut down cabarets that employ girls to dance follows fears that they corrupt youth, threaten local culture and encourage prostitution, he said.
