• Recovery of looted item from court/police

In the night of 24.01.2012, my Father was looted at knife point by 4 looters at Highway No. 8, near Pardi in Gujarat. He was traveling in a rented car which was taken from Vapi through a travel agency. He was looted of all his belongings like gold chain, diamond ring, cash, mobile etc. Later after investigation it was found that the driver of the rented car was involved in this crime. My father had installed an anti theft software in his looted mobile which helped the Police to nab the criminals. 
It has been now more than 5 and a half years of the incident and STILL WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED OUR LOOTED BELONGINGS AND CASH RECOVERED FROM THE LOOTERS, BY THE POLICE. After the arrest of the criminals, we were told by the police that all the looted items and cash were recovered. The victim, My father passed away in 2014. Later, on the advice of local Police station, we hired one lawyer, available in the Pardi(Valsad, Gujarat) Court premise who started processing the documents required to receive the looted items from the Court after we agreed to pay his related fees. He asked me to bring one elderly member from our family in front of Judge so as to get the order passed from the Judge. I followed Lawyer’s direction and bought my late father’s younger brother (my real Uncle) in front of Judge. For this lawyer even took part of the decided fees in advance,. I had paid in cash and have no receipt for the said payment. Later in January 2015, after our continuous follow up, the Lawyer confirmed that related order to receive the loot recovered items have been issued by the Judge. Since then, I have been following up with the said lawyers through phone and some time in person to receive the looted materials. But, the Lawyer keeps giving reasons and excuses to postpone the issue. I work overseas and hence cannot follow up in Person all the time. I try to see the lawyer once in a year during my visit to India, while at the same time keep following up through phone. 
I would like to have legal advise on following two issues:
i.	I want to get the looted items (gold chain, diamond ring, cash, mobile etc.) belonging to my father which was recovered from the looters. As understood from Police, all recovered looted material and cash was deposited in the court.
ii.	Considering the unprofessional approach and working of the assigned Lawyer(as mentioned above) what can be done against him legally. Is there chance that the looted materials belonging to my fathers have been taken away by the Police and said Lawyer, from the Court without our information.

Awaiting response from Lawyers of Kanoon.com for above issues. Thanks
Asked 6 years ago in Criminal Law
Religion: Hindu

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9 Answers

you have to make application to court for release of your gold , diamond , cash etc

2) court would permit release o n execution of bond or such terms as court deems fit

3) you have to produce gold and other items at time of trial

4) surety amount would be released on closure of the case

5) you can complain to bar council against lawyer

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94522 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Yes, you will have to file an application in the court only for taking the custody of the said items.

2. See sir please ask your lawyer the case number of the case that he has filed and then you can take help of some other lawyer to pursue as to some order has been actually passed or not. Secondly if you thing that the lawyer has done some unethical practice then you can write a complaint to bar council of India.

I suggest you to hire a local/ efficient lawyer (not based on advise of police) who can handle and pursue the matter in future.

Regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18077 Answers
377 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. If police has recovered the looted property and already informed the court, you should file an application of supurdgi nama before the concerned Trial Court detailing there in the entire list of looted items which you're liable to returned with. After the court passes an appropriate order, all your father's belongings will be duly returned to you.

Since, you've already engaged a local Lawyer to do the needful, you need to cross check whether he has taken steps in the right direction. Engage another local Lawyer to get the file investigation. He'll give you the second opinion in the matter.

Vibhanshu Srivastava
Advocate, Lucknow
9588 Answers
303 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Hello,

1. Engage another lawyer to obtain a certified copy of the order passed by the court to release the recovered articles.

2. Approach the concerned court office to get the articles released. If in case the court office confirms that the recovered articles have already been released to the previous lawyer or any other authorised person on your behalf, find out the details of the person and approach the lawyer/person concerned to obtain the articles.

3. If the lawyer/person is not cooperating, you can file a complaint in the same court and also complain to the bar association concerned against the previous lawyer.

S J Mathew
Advocate, Mumbai
3545 Answers
175 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

For the return of property recovered in a criminal case a petition under section 451 r/w 457 CrPC for grant interim custody of property has to be filed before concerned court. On filing of such petition the court will initially grant interim custody of property and thereby permanent custody. Sine the police already deposited the property you are entitled to get it. You can check with the concerned court SR record and Criminal Petition Record whether any petition filed in concerned file for seeking return of property on your behalf, you can take help of court staff they will tell you whether so far any petition filed or not. You can change the layer if the return of property delay causing because of him. Generally the property will be issued to concerned party on property identification and thoroughly checking all the id, resident and photographs of the party. You visit the court and enquired it with property registrar of court about the status of property. You can lodge complaint before court if any fraud played against either lawyer or police or any one else. You can also approach concerned Advocates State Bar Counsel if you are subject to harassment by your lawyer.

Lakshmi Kanth
Advocate, Hyderabad
446 Answers
15 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

Hii, sir the recovery items are kept with police during the pendency of court.. The court can release the said items after a due time ,,it is advised to appear before the court on next date and ask for the order whether it has released the items or not.. Take a help of some other lawyer.. There is a possibility that your lawyer may have ditched you.. If it is found this way then you can file a complaint against your lawyer ..

Hemant Chaudhary
Advocate, Gurgaon
4630 Answers
67 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

1. Why it is that you understand it from the police that the looted items have been recovered by the police? the police should have filed its report before the Court from where you should have take a copy thereof to know for sure what is the fate of the recovery.

2., Your main problem,it appears that, is with your lawyer and not about the case. It can also so happen that the said items have been shared by your own lawyer and the police in which case, your lawyer shall have to acknowledge the receipt of the said looted items by appending his signature on the receipt register.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27191 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

the criminal case against the thief, whether disposed or still pending?

You can aproach court directly with a petition seeing return of the items recovered from the thief.

You do not have to depend on your lawyer on this for ever if he is reluctant to help you out.

Or you can choose another lawyer.

The lawyer or the police cannot take away the recovered items from court without the knowledge of the owner of the property.

You my approach the concerned court with a petition directly on this.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. You had to file an application for superdari to recover the items of your father as they became case property after the filing of FIR. It is not clear whether such an application was filed by your lawyer and allowed by the court.

2. If the superdari application has been allowed by the court then it should not have taken more than a week to get back the items.

3. Engage another lawyer to inspect the judicial file and obtain the certified copies of the court orders to know what has actually transpired.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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