Hyderabad: An advocate has been arrested for stealing books, legal journals and case files from the Hyderabad High Court complex and keeping them in his office to make the place look more professional and to attract more clients.
Police has recovered as many as 144 journals and books from Guttula Ganga Venu Gopala Krishna (49) which he had stolen from various court halls. Cops have also gathered CCTV evidence showing the advocate picking up books for over a year.
“The advocate used to come to the High Court in the morning before other officials. He used to walk to the court halls when the cleaning staff were on their job and walk out with the books without being noticed,” said an investigation official from the Charminar police station.
Venu Gopala Krishna, who is a native of Sambamurthy Nagar, Kakinada Town, East Godavari, did not have enough money to buy books to make his Santosh Nagar Colony office attractive.
“Since his career record was not so impressive, he used to get less clients. So he thought of establishing a good office with sufficient books to attract more clients, but he did not have the money,” Charminar police officials said.
The advocate had earlier worked as a legal advisor for Sirpur Paper Mills at Kagaznagar, which closed down in 2008. On March 17, a court attendant noticed that books, journals and case files were missing. The attendant, Mr S. Sanjeevaiah, lodged a complaint with the police who started investigating. Cops said that they were also investigating if the advocate had other intentions for stealing the case files.
