The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Legal biggies and a rare battle of wits

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Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008
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Legal biggies and a rare battle of wits

Special Correspondent

The two criminal lawyers have defended the accused in several sensational cases successfully
At the Shakereh trial, other lawyers closely monitored how they conducted arguments

BANGALORE: The Begum Shakereh Namazi murder case that ended with the Supreme Court on Tuesday awarding life sentence to Swami Shraddananda was a rare case of two leading criminal lawyers representing the State and the accused.

While C.V. Nagesh was the special public prosecutor in the case, C.H. Hanumantharaya, was the counsel for Shraddananda. Over the years, these two legal eagles have defended accused in several sensational cases and have been successful in getting most of their clients absolved of the charges.

As their colleagues recollect, there were only a few cases in which Mr. Nagesh and Mr. Hanumantharaya appeared for the opposite parties in a particular case. In recent years, there have not been many cases where a leading criminal lawyer has represented the State. So, the Shakereh murder case had created curiosity among Bangalore’s legal fraternity, lawyers recalled.

During the Shakereh murder trial, junior advocates and leading criminal lawyers would come to the court hall to observe Mr. Nagesh and Mr. Hanumantharaya examine the witnesses and conduct arguments. The way in which the two lawyers used their knowledge of medical jurisprudence and forensic science to argue the case was remarkable, said an advocate who had closely monitored the case.

Nr. Nagesh and Mr. Hanumantharaya have also defended prominent politicians in cases that had serious political ramifications. Mr. Nagesh was the counsel for former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, in the multi-crore Classiq Computer cases that was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Mr. Bangarappa and the former chief secretary J. Alexander, who were accused of purchasing computers at inflated prices and causing loss to the exchequer, were later acquitted of the charges.

He was also the advocate for M. Veerappa Moily, who succeeded Mr. Bangarappa as the Chief Minister, in the infamous JMM bribery scandal. Indeed, Mr. Moily was exonerated of the charges.

Mr. Hanumantharaya had appeared for former Minister B.T. Lalitha Naik before Justice N.D.V. Bhat Commission that enquired into the desecration of the B.R. Ambedkar statue, an incident in which her son was an accused.

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