Bail is the rule and committal to jail is an exception, and the court must consider the nature of the alleged offences, progress of investigation, and the presumption of innocence in deciding bail applications.

ORDER

1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Video Conferencing/Physical Mode).

2. Being aggrieved by rejection of their respective bail applications and consequent restriction imposed on the personal liberty of the petitioners by a common rejection order dtd. 2.08.2021 passed by the 2nd Addl. Sessions Judge, Bhubaneswar in C.T. Case No.3524 of 2021, the above noted bail applications have been filed by the above named accused petitioners. Since the facts involved are similar which arises out of a common FIR, all the above noted Bail Applications were heard together and is being disposed by the following common order.

3. In the above noted Bail Applications, the accused-Petitioners are in custody since 28.06.2021 in connection C.T. Case No.3524 of 2021 arising out of Sahid Nagar P.S. Case No.258 dated 28.06.2021 for commission of offences punishable under Sections 419/420/465/467/468/471/120-B, I.P.C. and Sections 66-C/66-D of the Information Technology Act.

4. The prosecution case, in a nutshell, is that the Inspector of Police, namely, Jatindra Nath Sethy Cyber Cell, Bhubaneswar while investigating Sahid Nagar P.S. Case No.21 dated 11.01.2021, registered under Sections 419/420, I.P.C. r/w Sections 66-C/66-D of the Information Technology Act, was required to analyse the CDR details of the mobile number of the accused in that case for the month of December, 2020 and January, 2021. He discovered that the said Mobile belong to Vodafone-Idea service provider of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) Circle having IMEI No.354985990936960. The accused using the said mobile phone contacted one Itishree Kanungo, the victim in P.S. Case No.21 of 2021, and she was defrauded of a sum of Rs.2,58,999/-(Rupees Two Lakhs fifty-eight thousand nine hundred ninety-nine).

5. Further during search of the mobile number of the accused in that case, it came to light that seven numbers of Vodafone Idea sim cards bearing Mobile numbers 7381258850, 7066421923, 9776007703, 9776235429, 7064450531, 7873101318, 7064459053 had been used by the accused. During investigation, it was further found that all the sim cards belong to Odisha Circle Vodafone-Idea service provider. The CDR analysis further reveals that all those sim cards had been activated at different locations of the State of Odisha, namely, Baripada, Basudevpur (Bhadrak), Barpali (Bargarh) Kshetarajpur (Sambalpur), Bhadrak Town and Madhuban (Baripada).

6. It was further ascertained during investigation that all the above numbers came to a particular place on different dates having cell I.D. Number 405732001805392 (of Vodafone-Idea) of Bhadrak Town and used at the same place by the users in nine numbers of different handsets having different IMEI No.s. Thereafter, suddenly those sim cards having the above referred mobile numbers were, probably, transported to Delhi and used at New Delhi having the same cell ID of the accused and having the same IMEI numbers of the handset which was used in Sahid Nagar P.S. Case No.21 of 2021 to cheat the victims.

7. It was further alleged that more than 100 sim cards of Vodafone-Idea had been used in different handset after being activated at different locations in Bhadrak and Balasore districts of Odisha in the month of February, 2021. After obtaining CDR and CA of the handsets of the above noted mobile numbers and on careful analysis it was found 31 numbers of sim cards of Vodafone-Idea had been activated at a single point of sale (POS) in the name of different customers through the accused petitioners. Out of the aforesaid 31 sim cards, 19 sim cards having different mobile numbers had been transported out of the State of Odisha. Such facts created a strong suspicion in the mind of the I.O. that a organized gang is operating in the State of Odisha and the gang is involved in the process of activating multiple sim cards of different mobile service providers using/impersonating names of different customers and by arranging forged documents without the knowledge of those