A CBI court in Bangalore has sentenced Abdul Karim Telgi and two associates to five years' rigorous imprisonment for floating three fictitious firms trading in stamp paper and duping the Karnataka government, a PSU and four private firms of several lakh rupees.

It also imposed fines of Rs 4.5 lakh each on Telgi, Wazir Ahmad Saliq and Badruddin Jamedar while a third associate P G Pradeep Kumar was awarded a one-year jail term for helping them.

Telgi floated Citizen Enterprises, Unique Limted and Cauvery Enterprisers trading in stamp papers in 1997 and made fake embossments and forged signatures of Karnataka Stamp officials, the CBI said in a statement.

It said Telgi received Rs 2 lakh from two Karnataka- based companies and the agency conducted the probe following a complaint registered by HMT limited in 1999.

The Supreme Court transferred the case from Bangalore police to the CBI which then charged the four under the IPC for forgery and cheating.