Wed Feb 12 15:14:22 UTC 2025: ## Karnataka High Court Employee, Family Face Fraud Charges; Investigation to Proceed
**Bengaluru, February 12, 2025** – The Karnataka High Court has rejected a petition filed by one of its employees, N. Venkatesh, his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, allowing a criminal investigation to proceed against them. The family stands accused of defrauding a 66-year-old woman, Y. Sandhya, of several crores of rupees and a valuable property in Jayanagar.
The FIR, registered on December 31, 2021, alleges that Venkatesh, leveraging his position as a High Court employee, and his family, befriended Sandhya at a temple. They allegedly obtained a ₹1.5 crore loan from her, secured by mortgaging her Jayanagar property, and later fraudulently registered the property in their name for ₹4.5 crore, failing to pay the agreed-upon amount.
The High Court, while dismissing the petition that sought to quash the FIR, stated that the allegations, including criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and conspiracy, warranted a full investigation. Justice M. Nagaprasanna vacated an interim stay on the probe that had been in place since April 2022. The court acknowledged that the transaction might appear civil at first glance but deemed the complaint’s details indicative of potential fraud, necessitating a police investigation. The court clarified that this decision leaves other legal remedies open to the accused.
First Piper 