Lucknow lawyer gets life term for filing fake cases
Lucknow (PTI): A special court here has sentenced an advocate to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5.10 lakh after finding him guilty of misusing the identity of a Dalit woman to file dozens of fake cases against his opponents.
Special Judge (SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act) Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi delivered the verdict on Tuesday, holding Parmanand Gupta guilty of conspiracy and abuse of law by filing false cases through one Pooja Rawat, a Dalit woman, to target his rivals.
Special Public Prosecutor Arvind Mishra said Gupta, in collusion with Rawat, had filed at least 18 cases in his own name and another 11 through Rawat. Many of these were lodged against his rival Arvind Yadav and his family in connection with a property dispute. The false cases included allegations of rape and molestation, he added.
The matter came to light when arguments were raised before the Allahabad High Court, following which reports were sought from police stations concerned. On March 5, 2025, the high court ordered a CBI probe into the matter.
Investigations showed that Gupta conspired to use Rawat's Dalit identity to falsely implicate Yadav and his family. However, during the inquiry it emerged that Rawat was never present at the disputed site at the time of the alleged incidents, and that the house she claimed to have rented was actually under construction by the Yadav family.
Rawat later herself submitted an application to the court on August 4, 2025, stating that she had been trapped by Gupta and his wife Sangeeta, who runs a beauty parlour where she worked as an assistant.
Rawat admitted she had been coerced into giving false statements of sexual assault before a magistrate and pleaded for pardon. The court granted her conditional pardon.
The judge, however, held that Gupta, being fully aware that the charges carried the possibility of life imprisonment, had orchestrated the conspiracy and thus deserved exemplary punishment.
Sentencing him to life imprisonment, the court also directed that a copy of its judgment be sent to the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh to ensure that "a criminal like advocate Parmanand Gupta does not enter the court premises and practice law, so that the sanctity of the judiciary is preserved."
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
