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`Civil dispute given the colour of criminal offence'

Staff Reporter

Advocate sets the record straight

NEW DELHI: Advocate Alishan Naqvee, who along with three other lawyers -- Nigerian national Alfred Adebare, Seema Ahluwalia Jhingan and Dimpy Mohanty -- had been accused by a lawyers' firm, Titus and Co., of criminal breach of trust and hacking into the firm's computer network system, asserted on Tuesday that the "entire case has been motivated by personal vendetta'' as the four had started their own independent practice after breaking away from the firm and that all of them enjoyed international repute and recognition in their respective areas of specialisation.

Denying that the Delhi High Court had declined to stay criminal proceedings or quash the First Information Reports in the case, Mr. Naqvi said the senior counsel for the petitioners did not press for quashing of the FIR at this stage and the petition was "treated as the petition for grant of anticipatory bail under section 438 of the Code'', which prayer the Court had allowed without any rider in its order.

The advocate also stated that Justice S.K.Agarwal during the course of his judgment had recorded the pleas of all the concerned parties.

The plea that the petitioners were employees was merely recorded by the court as an argument of the State and was not a finding of the court.

Stating that the court after hearing and recording the rival contentions of the parties had allowed the petitioners' plea of anticipatory bail and concluded in its order that "the dispute arises out of the alleged breach of professional assignment which is of a commercial nature'', Mr. Naqvi said that, "in a nutshell, the matter is a civil dispute which has been given the colour of a criminal offence".

"Civil suits of ownership/copyright are separately pending adjudication in the High Court,'' he added.

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