New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) Cybercrime is destroying the social and economic fabric of society, a Delhi court said while dismissing the anticipatory bail pleas of three men accused of online fraud.
Special
Judge Rajesh Malik was hearing the pre-arrest bail pleas of Ankit Jain, Amardeep Sharma and Arihant Jain, whom the CBI has booked for the offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and cheating by personation.
The agency’s FIR also booked the trio under Sections 43 (damage to computer, computer system, etc.), 66B (dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device), 66C (identity theft) and Section 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
In the order dated January 8, the court said, “Cybercrime is destroying the social as well as economic fabric of society. Where a connection is established between the allegations and cybercrime, the court shall be reluctant to give any protection in the form of anticipatory bail to the accused or applicant.”
It said the investigation was still at a nascent stage, the exact number of victims was not known, and the agency, in future, could require their custodial interrogation.
The court dismissed the pleas, saying that based on the gravity of the offence and the evidence collected so far, no case for relief was made out.
The FIR alleged that a private company, M/s Lord Mahavira Services India Pvt Ltd, obtained 7,721 SIM connections from Vodafone Idea Ltd during 2024-2025, which were used to deceive unsuspecting citizens by making fraudulent calls, where callers impersonated as officials of TRAI, law enforcement agencies and others.
During the proceedings, the prosecution alleged that the accused got the SIM cards issued by Vodafone by submitting a false list of end users.
It alleged, “The SIM cards were issued in the names of persons who were not employees of the applicant company (Mahavira Services), and it clearly establishes the malafide intention of the applicant(s) to participate in cybercrime activities.”
The prosecution also claimed that these SIM numbers were used to send phishing links to a large number of people, because of which “innocent citizens lost their personal sensitive information to the cybercriminals”. PTI MNR ARI
