Kochi, Nov 13 , Former KHCAA president Saiby Jose Kidangoor on Monday heaved a sigh of relief after the state government informed the Kerala High Court that it would be dropping charges against him.
The court then directed the public prosecutor (PP) to produce a copy of the final report of the investigation agency.
“PP submits that the investigation agency submitted a report under caption ‘further action dropped’. PP shall produce a copy of the final report”, said the court in its order and deferred the case by a week.
The court was considering a petition filed by Kidangoor to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered against him over allegations that he fleeced large sums of money from clients under the pretext of using it to bribe some judges of the Kerala High Court.
After conducting a preliminary inquiry, the Ernakulam Central Police Station registered the FIR against the High Court lawyer on February 1 and soon after this, Kidangoor stepped down as the president of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association (KHCAA).
Incidentally, trouble began for him when a fellow lawyer took to his Facebook and said that Kidangoor had been collecting large sums of money from some clients, including some celebrity clients, saying that he would use it to bribe judges.
Following the same, one of the judges Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan, asked the High Court Registrar General to look into the allegations.
The Registrar General furnished an initial report that he sent to the Chief Justice who in turn directed the vigilance wing of the High Court to initiate an inquiry.
The vigilance wing’s probe found prima facie evidence that Kidangoor had taken money from his clients by saying that he would use it to bribe some judges.
The vigilance report was then sent to the Kerala Police, which in turn initiated its own investigation which indicated that there was substance to the allegations against Kidangoor, leading to the registration of the FIR, but a detailed probe, found no evidence against him.
sg/shb
