Telangana High Court refuses to quash case against senior advocate who allegedly took ₹7 crore to bribe High Court judges

The Telangana High Court recently refused to quash proceedings against Senior Advocate Vedula Venkataramana for allegedly accepting ₹7 crore from a litigant for bribing High Court judges to secure a favourable verdict [Vedula Venkataramana v. State of Telangana and Others]..Justice K Lakshman deemed it appropriate to not scuttle the investigation by exercising the Court's power under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC)."While it is true that Respondent No. 3 gave no information about how he obtained Rs. 7,00,00,000/- and when it was paid to the Petitioner, the allegations still are worthy of investigation. The allegations levelled against the Petitioner are grave. 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," the order stated..Though the Court refused to quash the case against Venkataramana, it protected him from arrest after taking note that the he is a senior lawyer with long standing reputation at the Bar."...certain claims made by Respondent No. 3 are highly exaggerated. The conduct of Respondent No. 3 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...".The Court was hearing a plea by Venkataramana seeking to quash the criminal case registered against him. The complainant alleged that he had engaged the Senior Advocate as his counsel in a land dispute matter. He had initially paid ₹30 lakh as fee to Venkataramana, after which the lawyer did not pursue the case.According to the complainant, Venkataramana demanded a sum of ₹7 crore, assuring him that this money would be used to bribe High Court judges and ensure a favourable outcome in his case. Venkataramana allegedly said that he had bribed judges earlier as well. The complainant agreed to pay the sum.However, Venkataramana failed to appear in the case, and when the complainant demanded the return of money paid, the lawyer refused to do so. Venkataramana allegedly also hurled caste-based abuses and threatened to harm the complainant's family.Subsequently, a case 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, 1860 (IPC) and Sections 3(2)(va) and 3(1)(r) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was registered against the lawyer..The Court opined that the allegations regarding payment of ₹7 crore were exaggerated. However, considering the gravity of the allegations, the Court deemed it worthy for the said case to be investigated.It directed Venkataramana to cooperate with the investigation and dismissed his quashing plea..Senior Advocate V Pattabhi appeared for Venkataramana.Public Prosecutor Palle Nageshwar Rao appeared for the State.Advocate Nimma Narayana appeared for the complainant..[Read Judgment]