Kerala High Court Directs Advocate Saiby Jose Kidangoor To Appear Before Police In Bribery Case, Asks Him To Cooperate With Probe

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked Advocate Saiby Jose Kidangoor, who is accused of collecting money from clients under the pretext of bribing High Court judges, to appear before the investigating officer as and when required, and cooperate with the probe in the bribery case. 

Justice Kauser Edappagath refused to pass any interim order to protect Advocate Saiby from arrest even as his counsel pressed for the same. It was noted that the same submission had been made previously, and that the prosecution had said before that the petitioner would not be arrested. 

The Public Prosecutor produced before the court the preliminary enquiry report conducted by the Commissioner of Police, Ernakulam. The State Police Chief also submitted the statement of facts.

During the hearing today, it was submitted by the Prosecutor that the investigation in the matter is still going on and is at a preliminary stage.

It was submitted by Senior Advocate S. Sreekumar on behalf of the petitioner that Advocate Saiby is ready to appear before the investigating officer and cooperate with the investigation. It was further submitted that the investigating agency may also conduct investigation into the allegations levelled by the petitioner regarding conspiracy behind filing the complaint. 

The matter has been posted for further consideration after two weeks. 

Advocate Saiby, who is facing allegations of having taken money from clients in the name of bribing judges, had approached the High Court seeking to quash the FIR that had been registered against him and to stay all further proceedings.

The Ernakulam Central Police Station had registered the FIR against Advocate Saiby, by invoking offences under Section 7(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR had been registered with the approval of the State Police Chief.

It had been averred in the plea filed by Advocate Saiby that a group of three or four lawyers had concocted a false complaint to the Registrar General who in turn informed the State Police Chief to investigate the matter. The State Police Chief had directed the City Commissioner of Police to conduct a preliminary enquiry. However, it has been averred that no concrete evidence had been brought out to inculpate the petitioner in the offence.

It has been submitted that all the persons mentioned in the complaint had been summoned by the Commissioner of Police, and their statements have been recorded. However, the petitioner submits that none of those statements revealed anything against him so as to justify the allegations levelled against him by the lawyers.

The petitioner added that with the registration of the FIR, his entire career has been spoiled.

"Added to it, the media, both print and visual, had given several fake news items against the petitioner for the reason they have a long standing grudge towards the petitioner, as there was clash and dispute between media and lawyers and the privileges enjoyed by the mediamen were taken away on the intervention of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association, on the initiation of the petitioner and others," the petitioner said.

The Court had earlier refused to stay the FIR registered against Advocate Saiby on the ground that the petition was filed prematurely. 

"The allegations on the face of it are very serious. It is something that is maligning the entire justice delivery system," it orally observed.

The Court went on to observe, "You are an officer of this Court and an office bearer of a responsible institution, it is also your responsibility to prove your innocence and remove the shadow that has been cast on the entire justice delivery system".

It is on this basis that the petitioner had approached the High Court with the plea.

The petitioner is represented by Senior Advocate S. Sreekumar, and Advocates K. Anand, Babu S. Nair, M.R. Nandakumar and Martin Jose P.

Case Title: Saiby Jose Kidangoor v. The State Police Chief & Ors.

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