Kerala: SIT raids office of lawyer in graft case, say officials

The special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday raided the office of controversial lawyer Saiby Jose Kidangoor, accused of taking big money from clients under the pretext of bribing high court judges to get favourable verdicts, officials said

The special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday raided the office of controversial lawyer Saiby Jose Kidangoor, accused of taking big money from clients under the pretext of bribing high court judges to get favourable verdicts, officials said.

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The SIT team arrived at his office in Kidangoor in the Kottayam district on Tuesday night, and the raid continued till Wednesday morning, people who are aware of the development said. Officials later seized his laptop and other documents from his office.

The team was led by crime branch superintendent K Sudarshan. On Tuesday the High Court rejected his plea to stay his possible arrest and directed him to cooperate with the ongoing case.

A case was registered against the lawyer last month after a series of charges cropped up against him, alleging that he collected a huge sum of money under the pretext of bribing judges to get favourable verdicts. A film producer and two others complained about this and later. the high court registrar made a complaint, and a case was registered against the lawyer, who was also the president of the HC lawyers’ association. Later he resigned from the post.

Meanwhile, Kidangoor appeared in the case relating to molestation charges against Malayalam actor Unni Mukundan claiming that he had strong evidence to show the complainant had approached him and tried to settle the case out of court. The court withdrew the stay granted in the case last week after the complainant said she had not signed any document to settle the case in 2020.

Kidangoor said he had a voice message from the victim requesting him to end the case, and later she also sent her intention through the mail. He submitted both to the court and said he never forged any document and tried to mislead the court.