Senior Advocate who allegedly took money from client to bribe judges moves Supreme Court for relief

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Telangana government to respond to a plea filed by Senior Advocate Vedula Venkataraman challenging the criminal proceedings lodged against him for allegedly accepting ₹7 crores from clients to bribe High Court judges for securing favorable orders..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih issued notice to Telangana on an appeal filed by the Senior Advocate against the Telangana High Court's refusal to quash the case.It was his contention that the first information report (FIR) registered against him only contains bare allegations without any prima facie proof and that the same is vague and general..As per the allegations against Venkataraman, he took ₹7 crore from a client by assuring him that this money would be used to bribe High Court judges and ensure a favorable outcome in the client's case. However, Venkataraman failed to appear in the case, and when the complainant demanded the return of money paid, the senior lawyer refused to do so. It was also alleged that Venkataraman hurled caste-based abuses and threatened to harm the complainant's family.Subsequently, an FIR under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the relevant provisions Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was registered against the lawyer..Venkataraman initially moved the Telangana High Court seeking to quash the criminal case registered against him. The High Court however, dismissed the lawyer's plea by holding that the allegations levelled against him are grave and the same needed to be investigated. High Court judge Justice K Lakshman noted,"The allegation that money was obtained to bribe the judges of this Court casts a serious doubt on the independence of judiciary and implies that justice is up for sale. Such serious allegations need to be investigated."However, the High Court protected Venkataraman from arrest after noting that certain claims made by the complainant-client against the senior lawyer were highly exaggerated."The conduct of Respondent No. 3 (complainant) in participation of the illegal act alleged against the Petitioner raises suspicions about his bona fides. Further, nothing in the counter-affidavit indicates that Petitioner’s custodial interrogations is required. This Court is also mindful of the fact that the Petitioner is a senior advocate with long standing...".Aggrieved by the High Court's decision in having refused to quash criminal proceedings against him, Venkataraman moved the Supreme Court. In his appeal, he has stated that the High Court's refusal to quash violates the settled principles of law as laid down in the case of Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of UP as there is no proof against him that he has paid any amount.Further, the senior lawyer has claimed that neither was any preliminary inquiry was conducted before the registration of the FIR nor has a chargesheet been filed till date..Senior Advocate Niranjan Reddy and advocates Mandeep Kalra and Anushna Satapathy appeared for Venkataraman.