Mumbai: The sessions court has rejected bail pleas of eight accused and refused anticipatory bail to one more in a major cyber fraud case. The scam cheated a Malad resident of Rs58.13 crore through ‘digital
arrest’ in September 2025.
The victim, Michael Mascarence, a former vice president and later consultant at Zuventus Health Care Ltd, held 3 lakh shares in the company. In July 2025, he received Rs53.10 crore as proceeds from the shares. Between July 28 and August 18, 2025, he withdrew around Rs10 crore with help from his bank manager.
On August 19, fraudsters called him pretending to be TRAI officials. They claimed complaints were filed against him for illegal texts. Later, ca - llers falsely said he was linked to Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal’s arrest, alleging illegal payments. They put him under ‘digital arrest’ and forced him to transfer Rs58.13 crore to various accounts. On September 20, when asked for another Rs3 crore, the victim realised it was a scam and reported it to cybercrime police, leading the arrests.
Sessions Judge AV Gujarathi rejected their bail, observing they gave no explanation for allowing others to operate their bank accounts. The court also denied anticipatory bail to 33-year-old Devender Saini from Raja - sthan, who allegedly helped absconding accused convert funds into cryptocurrency.
Public prosecutor Ramesh Siroya said the accused wor - ked closely with the main culprits and a huge amount is st - ill unrecovered. The judge no - ted the money was moved to crypto and remains untraced, raising fears the accused could contact absconders or destroy evidence if freed.
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