INDIA PUNJAB NON RESIDENT INDIAN AGED 75 SETTLED IN UK ENTERED THE COURT AND PUT KEROSENE ON HIM IN FRONT OF THE SESSION JUDGE AS FEELING CHEATED BY HIS OWN LAWYER WHO OBTAINED HIS SIGNATURE ON BLANK PAPER THEN USED THE SAME AS POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR SELLING HIS PROPERTY PART BY PART FOR WHICH HE IS ENGAGED AND LEGAL BATTLE IS GOING WITH OTHER PARTY SINCE 1980. July 14.2013 KAPURTHALA: Trapped in legal mess, created by his own lawyer friend against him, a UK-based 75-year old NRI tried to set himself ablaze by pouring kerosene. Drenched with kerosene, Ram Partap Puri tried to barge into the court to commit suicide in front of the Sessions Judge with matchstick in his hand. The prompt security staff intercepted him before he could immolate himself and handed him over to the local police. Puri, who belongs to Kapurthala and is a resident of the United Kingdom, said: “Since 1980, I have been fighting for my land that was grabbed by the local land mafia. In the long-drawn legal battle, my lawyer friend cheated me. He persuaded me to sign blank papers, assuring me that the same would be used to defend my case at Punjab and Haryana High Court by the lawyer at Chandigarh. I signed those papers in good faith but my friend used those papers for forging the power of attorney. He then started selling my pieces of land based on these documents,” the septuagenarian rued. He added that his name has been dragged into several cases by his lawyer friend who is a powerful and renowned name in the profession. “He is and one of the land mafia being run in the state,” alleged the NRI. “Because of my lawyer’s influence, no lawyer in city is ready to take up my case. Everyone is afraid of him. Since 2006, I have been fighting cases against him and his battery of associates,” he added. The NRI further said his opponents are using their legal expertise to harass him and corner him on several counts. He says he feels helpless and no one is helping him. “Yesterday, one of my cases was to be heard in the court of Additional Sessions Judge but they managed to transfer it today to the court of District and Sessions Judge. I was extremely fed up of the style of functioning where I got nothing except dates for the next hearing. I took kerosene oil from my home in the morning and put the bin outside the court. When I entered the court, I saw my friend already sitting there and he provoked me with a wicked smile on his face,” added Puri. “This made me nervous and imbalanced. I immediately rushed outside, picked the bin of kerosene and poured it on myself,” he further added. “For the last 32 years, I am fighting alone. I cannot stay here for more than six months as per the rules. My business in the UK is suffering due to the legal battle here for my nearly 160 kanals of land,” said Puri. On his next course of action Puri said, “Fighting against the system in India needs a lot of courage and patience but I am a fighter and will keep fighting till the end.” Following the incident, city police counselled Puri, listened to his grievances and send him home with a team of policemen. “He is a victim of legal complications. We did not want to book him yet another case of attempt to suicide. So we spent our day counselling him,” said city SHO BM Ladhar.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 09:31:46 +0000
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