Mumbai: Lawyer Arrested for Defrauding Senior Businesswoman of ₹2.57 Crores Using Fake Bombay High Court Orders

In a shocking case, a senior businesswoman from Delhi was defrauded of ₹2.57 crores by her own lawyer. The accused, identified as Vinay Kumar Ashok Khatu, presented fake orders from the Bombay High Court in two appeals and duped the elderly woman. Khatu, who had been evading arrest for over a month, was finally apprehended by a special team of Azad Maidan Police from Nerul, Navi Mumbai. After his arrest, he was presented before the court and has been remanded to police custody.

The Case Background

Urmila Darab Talyakhan, a 74-year-old businesswoman from Delhi, bought a plot of land in Alibaug, Raigad, in 1998 from Kailas Agarwal for ₹20 lakh. The land was officially registered in her name with the revenue department. However, in 2003, a man named Tukaram Patil filed a petition in Raigad Civil Court, claiming that the land rightfully belonged to him, as it was sold by Kailas Agarwal to Draupadi Pandurang Patil, the true heir. Patil argued that Urmila Talyakhan’s purchase was invalid. The Civil Court ruled in favor of Tukaram Patil, after which Talyakhan approached the Bombay High Court to challenge the decision. Initially, she hired advocate D.N. Joshi to represent her, but due to his absence during hearings, she appointed Vinay Kumar Khatu in his place.

Fraud Unfolds

Khatu was representing Talyakhan in six different cases, including the dispute over the Alibaug property and a separate fraud case filed against her and her late husband. For his services, Talyakhan paid him ₹10 lakh per case. Since Talyakhan could not frequently travel from Delhi for the hearings, she transferred the payments online to Khatu.

In an attempt to secure a stay order on the Civil Court’s decision, Khatu provided Talyakhan with what appeared to be a copy of a Bombay High Court order, which allegedly overturned the Civil Court's ruling in her favor. Expecting further rulings in her favor, she continued to transfer large sums of money to Khatu. Shortly afterward, he sent another High Court order, again claiming victory for her in a second appeal.

Based on these supposedly favorable orders, Talyakhan trusted Khatu and paid him a total of ₹2.57 crore, which included fees for court appearances, legal procedures in government and semi-government offices, and payments to other lawyers.

The Discovery of the Fraud

In April 2024, Talyakhan sought legal advice from her lawyer acquaintance, Shama Bothe. She showed Bothe the documents and copies of the court orders provided by Khatu. Upon verifying the documents, Bothe discovered that the copies of orders allegedly issued by Bombay High Court judges Sandeep K. Shinde and Madhav Jamdar on October 17, 2022, and December 12, 2022, were fake. Further investigation on the Bombay High Court’s official website revealed that no such orders had been passed, and Talyakhan’s second appeal was still pending.

Legal Action and Arrest

Realizing she had been defrauded, Talyakhan immediately reported the matter to Azad Maidan Police, who registered a case against Vinay Kumar Khatu under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 466 (forging public documents), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents), and 474 (having possession of forged documents) of the Indian Penal Code. Following the complaint, Khatu went into hiding.

After a thorough investigation and search operation, police traced Khatu to Nerul, Navi Mumbai, and arrested him on Sunday. He was produced before the Esplanade Court, which remanded him to police custody for further investigation.