Karnataka High Court Bail Woman Advocate Cash For Bail Case

The Karnataka High Court last week granted bail to a 65-year-old woman advocate who is accused of taking money from a murder accused’s mother on the pretext of bribing a judge to secure bail. Advocate Marina Fernandes, who has been in custody for over a year since her arrest on January 11, 2025. In the August 6 order, Justice Ravi V Hosmani said the bail is subject to execution of a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh. The court considered that co-accused Arathi alias Sandhy V, who has been charged with a similar offence, has been granted bail by the trial court and the police have filed their chargesheet in the case. The case history The case stems from a complaint filed by the Registrar General of the High Court at the Vidhana Soudha police station in 2024. According to court records, one Theresa was attempting to secure bail for her son, V Vishnu Devan, who was arrested in 2021 in connection with a murder case. Theresa initially met Marina Fernandes near the Mayo Hall Court in Bengaluru, who allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh to secure Devan’s release. When her son remained behind bars despite the payment, Fernandes allegedly issued three cheques to refund the money and introduced Theresa to Aarathi. Aarathi allegedly claimed to be close to the presiding judge and extracted Rs 72,000, but failed to secure bail. Theresa was then introduced to advocate Dayeena Banu, who allegedly conveyed that a substantial amount would need to be paid directly to a High Court judge to obtain a favourable bail order. Following these demands, Theresa filed a complaint with the Bar Council against Fernandes and Aarathi, and also sent a letter to the High Court on December 18, 2024, detailing Banu’s bribe demands. A coordinate bench took suo motu cognisable note of the matter and directed the registration of a criminal case against Banu. On August 5, a coordinate bench of the High Court refused to cancel the case against Banu. The bench said, “The allegation, if found to be true, would cut at the root of the integrity of the institution. Therefore, in such cases, investigation is a must as the question involved is institutional integrity.”