Madras High Court orders vigilance inquiry into charge of senior advocate having received ₹50 lakh to pay to a Judge

The Madras High Court has ordered an inquiry by its vigilance cell regarding a letter written in the name of an association of lawyers to a sitting judge stating that a designated senior advocate had “collected” ₹50 lakh for being given to the judge to pass favourable orders in two connected cases.

Justice M. Nirmal Kumar recused from hearing those two cases, referred the matter to the vigilance cell and directed the High Court Registry to take the issue to the notice of the Chief Justice for listing the cases before some other judge and also for issuing necessary instructions regarding the inquiry.

One of the two cases was a criminal original petition filed by Naresh Prasad Agarwal in 2014 to quash a charge sheet filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a ₹89.90 crore bullion trading fraud and the other was a petition filed by co-accused N. Ganesh Agarwal in 2015 to discharge him from the case.

The High Court’s now retired judge T. Mathivanan had disposed of both the cases by way of a common order on April 17, 20217. He had quashed the charge sheet against one of the accused and discharged the other accused from the criminal case. However, on appeal, the Supreme Court remanded the matters for a fresh hearing.

After the remand, Justice Kumar had been hearing both the cases together since September 22, 2025 and had been adjourning them from time to time. On January 12, 2026 a letter was addressed to the judge in the name of an association titled All India Lawyers Association for Justice based at Thambu Chetty Street in Chennai.

The letter read: “Respected Lordship, a senior advocate has collected a sum of ₹50 lakh from the client stating that the said amount has to be given to your Lordship in respect of the cases… heard by Your Lordship. However, even after the receipt of the said amount, no order has been passed till date in the said case. We therefore humbly request your Lordship to kindly pass suitable order in favour of client. Otherwise, request your Lordship to kindly initiate suitable action in respect of the above said said case.”

A copy of the letter had also been marked to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice and the CBI headquarters in New Delhi. The Ministry on January 22, 2026 forwarded the letter to the Madras High Court Registry “for taking necessary action.” The High Court Registry received the Ministry’s communication on February 3, 2026 and placed it before Justice Kumar who made an inquiry with the senior advocate representing the two petitioners.

The senior counsel stoutly denied the allegation and expressed his willingness to cooperate with any kind of inquiry. The CBI Special Public Prosecutor K. Srinivasan, on the other hand, said, that the practice of writing letters should not be entertained since they affect the dignity of the court and said that steps must be taken to find out the individual who had sent such a false representation.

After hearing both sides, the judge decided to recuse from the matter and order a vigilance inquiry.