Fake Vakalatnama Scandal: CBI Books Eight Lawyers After Supreme Court Directive
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has on November 22, 2024 loged an First Information Report (FIR) implicating eight lawyers in connection with a fake vakalatnama case, following directions from the Supreme Court in the matter of Bhagwan Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh and Another.
The FIR outlines allegations of offenses such as false personation, forgery, cheating, and filing false claims in court. A bench of the Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma on 20.09.2024 ordered an inquiry into a complaint by a litigant, Bhagwan Singh who had denied filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court and claimed he never engaged any lawyers to represent him in the matter.
The Bench emphasized that strict measures would be taken against legal professionals engaging in fraudulent practices. The issue surfaced after the Supreme Court issued notice to the State of Uttar Pradesh in the SLP, prompting Bhagwan Singh to write to the Supreme Court Registry stating that he had not initiated the case.
To address the matter, the Court issued stringent instructions to Advocates-on-Record (AoRs), mandating that they list only authorized lawyers to appear and argue cases on specific hearing dates. The Court further clarified that any changes in the arguing advocate’s name must be communicated to the court master either in advance or during the hearing.
According to the FIR lodged after a preliminary CBI inquiry, the central agency noted that Bhagwan Singh had likely never interacted with any of the lawyers who claimed to represent him. The report names ten individuals, including eight lawyers, accusing them of conspiring to file the SLP in the Supreme Court as well as other applications in the Allahabad High Court.
[Read FIR and order]
