Cheated advocate creates a record

Finds a place in the Limca Book of Records for winning 146 cases against Vini Vinc

Cheated advocate creates a record

Finds a place in the Limca Book of Records for winning 146 cases against Vini Vinc

A lawyer from the state sailed into the Limca Book of Records for being the first advocate to win 146 cases against a single company.

V Sripad, an advocate from Raichur, won the cases against Vini Vinc, the blade company which duped hundreds throughout the state. Sripad, himself a victim of Srinivasa Shastri, alias Vini Vinc Shastri, lost Rs 1.5 lakh. But he turned the loss into an opportunity.

"My wife and I had invested Rs 75,000 each in one of the Vini Vinc schemes which promised 10 per cent interest per month. Which meant that our money would be more than double after a year," Sripad told MiD DAY.

After the fraud was reported in the papers, Sripad filed a case against the company as a victim. "I found there were many other victims in Raichur. I got all the 146 people together and fought cases on their behalf. I did not even charge anyone," he said.

"I filed cases in Raichur District Consumer's Forum against Vini Vinc MD Shastri and the Raichur agent K S Yadunath Kolar. In all the cases, the forum ordered that the government should recover revenue from Shastri's seized properties and refund the deposits along with interest to the victims," he said.

No money yet

Though he has won the cases, he still has a long way to go in getting the money. "The Corps of Detectives (CoD) have seized the properties and their value has also increased over the years. The criminal case by the police is pending in the special court. I am again appealing to the court to see to it that the victims get their money soon," he said.

Sripad says many people are suffering because of the loss of their hard-earned savings. "People have even lost eight to ten lakh rupees. There is one girl who is unmarried because all that was saved for her marriage was lost in the Vini Vinc scam," he said.

After he won the last of the 146 cases in February, Sripad applied for an entry into the Limca Book of Records.

"They checked it and accepted my feat as a national record. It is a history in Indian advocacy," he said.