Kochi: New allegations have been raised against Saiby Jose Kidangoor, who has been accused of receiving money from his clients in the name of bribing high court judges. Kothamangalam native Basil James made the accusations against Saiby, who appeared against him in the court in a divorce case. He alleged that Saiby took Rs 5 lakh from him offering to withdraw the criminal charges against him.
Basil said that he handed over the amount at the advocate’s house in Divine Nagar. “Following this, the case at the Judicial First Class Magistrate court in Aluva was withdrawn. However, the case in the family court was not withdrawn,” he claimed.
“Later, I came to know that Saiby had rescued himself from the case,” he said. Basil added that he tried to contact Saiby but he did not respond.
Basil’s father James John said that Saiby threatened him. According to James, Saiby said that he would not allow them to appear in court and threaten to assault them.
A case was filed with the bar council against Saiby in 2013. But the advocates informed the council that the allegations against him would not stand and that there was a conspiracy behind the case. This case was closed in 2015. There was an allegation that the complainant was not informed about this.
Meanwhile, Saiby has approached the Kerala High Court seeking to dismiss the FIR registered against him. He alleged that the FIR was registered on the grounds of rumours. A bench of Justice Kauser Edappagath will hear the petition on Monday.
The petition stated that no client has given a statement against the advocate. So, charges under the provisions of section 7(A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code will not stand, it noted.