Alappuzha: Sessy Xavier, who went absconding after being booked for practicing as a lawyer with fabricated certificates, surrendered before the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court here on Tuesday. She was on the run since 2021.

She practiced as a lawyer in various courts in Alappuzha for more than two years without securing an LLB degree.

Though the police had intensified the search to trace Sessy, they failed in their mission even after issuing a lookout notice against her in October 2021.

It is reported that once Sessy arrived at the court but fled from there immediately after sensing chances of getting arrested. She also moved an anticipatory bail plea before the Kerala High Court.

Alappuzha police registered a case against her under sections 417 (cheating), 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code.

The case

Alappuzha North police registered the case against Sessy based on a complaint lodged by the Alappuzha Bar Association in July 2021.

The complaint said the woman had used the credentials of another person to enrol herself as an advocate in the Bar Association and to become an advocate commission.

It was later found that Sessy had used the enrollment number of a Thiruvananthapuram-based advocate to commit the alleged fraud.

Sessy was exposed after the Bar Association received an anonymous letter saying she had submitted fake certificates. The Association, which launched an investigation based on the letter, found she had been using the credentials of another advocate. It was also found that she was registered with the Kerala Bar Council.

The woman went into hiding after the Association demanded her to present her certificates.