HC suspends lawyer who used Raja’s name to pressure Madras judge

Chandramohan was the counsel representing Dr C Krishnamurthy and his son Kiruba Sridhar,an MBBS

student of the Pondicherry University,who faced charges of fudging his marksheets. The Minister,advocate and the doctor hail from Perambalur district with several years — and layers — of relationship between them.

Disposing a petition filed by advocate ‘Elephant’ G Rajendran,the bench comprising Justices F M Ibrahim Kalifulla and M M Sundresh directed him to approach the Indian Bar Council with a formal complaint against Chandramohan,and ordered the latter’s suspension to ensure that he did not influence the outcome abusing the position.

Though the bench did not name Raja in its order,the indictment came indirectly as it reproduced a portion of a letter written by Justice R Regupathi to the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court containing the relevant part where there is a specific reference to Chandramohan.

“On 12 June,2009,at about 2 pm during lunch while I was in the Chamber of the Madras HC,my office assistant informed me that Mr. Chandramohan,Chairman Bar council of TN,was waiting and seeking an appointment to meet me and immediately I allowed him to come in. To start with he discussed about the general subject on advocates and proceeding he said two persons who are father and son/accused in a criminal case are family friends of a union minister by name A Raja and that the petition filed by them for anticipatory bail must be considered favourably. Simultaneously he handed over his mobile phone by saying that the Union minister is on the line to have a talk with me,right away I discouraged such conduct of Mr. Chandramohan and told him that the case would be disposed off in accordance with law,if listed before me,” Justice Regupathi wrote.

When the case came up before him,Justice Regupathi refused to entertain the anticipatory bail plea — which was turned down once already by the High Court. Chandramohan protested this,charging that the court was passing a decision without hearing both sides. This enraged the judge who burst out against the advocate in open court,mentioning his earlier attempts to influence him and demanded an unconditional apology.

Though the counsel apologised and Justice Regupathi recused himself from the case,the incident garnered wide attention and led to a huge controversy.

Dr Krishnamurthy,originally hailing from Perambalur district,is close to Raja. Prior to his active politics career,the minister ran his lawyer’s office from Krishnamurthy’s building there. Chandramohan’s relationship with Raja,too,runs deep into the past when both were together as young lawyers in the district.

According to the prosecution,Krishnamurthy and his son,an MBBS student of Arupadai Veedu Medical College in Pondicherry,colluded with middlemen and officials of the Pondicherry University to fudge marks. Failing to clear the ophthalmology paper even after repeated attempts,Kiruba allegedly got his marks fudged.

Following the arrest of the university official and middleman,the case was transferred to the CBI as more names of influential persons were revealed in the preliminary investigation. The Indian Express had reported that a university employee V Jayaraman,an alleged partner in the network who turned whistleblower in the case,was murdered in May,2008,barely months after he exposed the marksheet tampering.

In an interview to The Sunday Express,then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan,who is now chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC),had said: “No minister had called the judge. That is my information. It seems that one lawyer claimed that some minister was interested in the case. Then the judge told the lawyer that he was not interested in knowing if any minister was interested or not. The judge has written a letter to the Chief Justice (of the Madras High Court) and he is sending it to me.”