The Principal District and Sessions Court in Udupi on Friday sentenced Alevoor Premaraj Kini, an advocate practising in Udupi courts, to undergo life imprisonment under the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, for forging documents and using them to defraud his clients belonging to the SC community.
Principal District and Sessions Judge J.N. Subramanya had on Thursday convicted Kini, son of late Baburaya Kini, resident of V.T. Road, Thenkapete, Udupi, and Vinay Kumar, working in a private accountants office, Udupi, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the SC/ST Act. Cases against accused no. 3, Harishchandra Acharya, clerk at Kini’s office, had abated after his death.
The prosecution through Special Public Prosecutor K. Shivaprasad Alva contended that Kini had defrauded ₹2,57,549 awarded by the Karnataka High Court as enhanced compensation to one Chambu towards the death of his wife, Kundadu, in a motor vehicle accident in 2002. The appeal was filed against the order passed by Udupi Motor Vehicle Accidents Claims Tribunal on October 13, 2003, in MVC 972/2002 filed by Chambu and his children, awarding compensation of ₹1,33,246, including interest. The compensation amount was paid to original applicants.
On a miscellaneous first appeal before the High Court in 2004, the court on March 8, 2010, ordered enhancement of the compensation to ₹3,08,000 and the insurance company deposited the balance amount with interest (₹2,57,549) in the court on May 27, 2011.
Instead of arranging payment of the enhanced sum to the applicants, the advocate created forged documents, including ration cards in the names of the applicants and court seals, opened bank accounts and misappropriated the amount, the prosecution had argued.
Mr. Subramanya convicted Kini under IPC provisions of cheating and forgery and Section 3 (2) (v) of the SC/ST Act and sentenced him to life besides imposing fines. Accused no. 2 was convicted under the provisions of the IPC and sentenced to simple imprisonment with a maximum of five years and fines. Out of the fine amounts, ₹3 lakh should be paid to the original applicants, the judge said.
Mr. Alva said Dy.SPs Jayanth Shetty, Prabhudeva Mane, and Santhosh Kumar conducted the investigation while ASI Krishnappa helped the prosecution.
