Bombay High Court clerk siphons off lawyer's fees worth Rs 53,000

The Azad Maidan Police has registered a case against a clerk of Bombay High Court who is suspected to have allegedly siphoned off the soliciting fee of the court's public prosecutor.

According to police sources, the lawyer, Aparna Vhatkar, was working in the High Court as an Assistant Public Prosecutor on a contractual basis for the past nine years and received soliciting fees. The complainant's soliciting fees of amounting to Rs 53,000 were pending and in December 2017, Vhatkar inquired about the payment with the court's Writ Department. Vhatkar was then informed that the payment had been transferred to her bank account. When she initiated an inquiry with the bank, it was found that the name and account details of the court clerk, Sameer Topale, were put against Vhatkar's payment.

"The Writ Department's HOD lodged a police complaint against Topale in Azad Maidan Police station. Vhatkar too has lodged a complaint against Topale and others. On the basis of the complaints we then registered a case of cheating under the Indian Penal Code," said a police officer He added, "We suspect that there may have been more victims in the case."