The Supreme Court strongly criticised a 69-year-old senior advocate for cheating someone of Rs.1.68 crore by pretending to be a land broker. Rejecting his plea to quash the case, the Court said, “Shocking! You acted like a land broker.”
New Delhi: The Supreme Court was shocked and disappointed by a case where a 69-year-old senior advocate cheated someone of Rs.1.68 crore by pretending to be a land broker.
The court rejected his request to cancel the criminal case, even though he promised to return the money.
Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan stated,
“It is not a case for settlement. You may be a lawyer, but your conduct is outrageous. You should face trial and get convicted.”
The bench highlighted the severity of the situation, noting,
“A senior advocate is doing brokering. He is doing land transactions through his clerk. He collected Rs 1.68 crore and refused to refund. This is shocking. He even got his intern, a law student, involved in this act. And all this is happening in a senior advocate’s chamber.”
R. Manickavel, the senior advocate in question, had presented himself as the agreement holder for a property and promised to sell it for Rs 3.25 crore. He received a total of 1.68 crore rupees from the complainant without ever introducing him to the actual title holder.
When the complainant grew suspicious and requested to meet the original owner, Manickavel urged him to pay the remaining amount if he trusted him, or he could retrieve the advance of Rs 1.68 crore.
Upon asking for a refund, Manickavel only returned Rs 40 lakh. The complainant later discovered that the property had already been settled in favor of the original owner’s legal heirs.
When he demanded the return of his money, Manickavel and his co-accused refused and allegedly threatened him.
The complainant filed a police complaint in 2011, accusing the lawyer of fraud. The Chennai police submitted a chargesheet in 2023, which the Egmore Magistrate has acknowledged.
The Madras High Court dismissed Manickavel’s plea to quash the case on April 30 of this year, leading him to appeal to the Supreme Court.
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