* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

% Reserved on: 11^th December, 2025

Pronounced on: 15th December, 2025

+ BAIL APPLN. 4385/2025

AAYUSH GOYAL

S/o Sh. Naveen Goyal

R/o J & K Block, Building No.25,

Flat No.12, Laxmi Nagar,

Delhi-110092 .....Petitioner

Through: Mr. Kunal Jain, Advocate.

versus

STATE OF NCT OF DELHI

Through the S.H.O.

P.S. Cyber, Southwest, Delhi .....Respondent

Through: Mr. Utkarsh, APP for the State.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA

J U D G M E N T

NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA, J.

1. Bail Application filed under Section 482 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as “BNSS”) read with Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as “CrPC”) has been filed by the Petitioner/Aayush Goyal for grant of Anticipatory Bail in FIR No. 44/2025 dated 08.07.2025 under Sections 318(4)/61(2)/3(5) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as “BNS”) [corresponding to Section 420/120B/34 of the Indian Penal Code

(IPC) 1860] at P.S. Cyber, South-West.

2. The case of the Prosecution is that the present FIR under Section 318(4) BNS was registered at P.S. Cyber South West on the Complaint of one Sh. Abhishek Raj. He alleged that he received a WhatsApp call from number 8629967903, where a woman introduced herself as “Akansha,” impersonating an HR executive of a Company, namely, Freelance Pvt. Ltd. She informed him about work-from-home tasks available through their website and promised income for each Google search/review performed. Initially, the Complainant received small payments to build trust. Later, the caller told him that his free task coupons had expired and induced him to make multiple payments for higher-income tasks. After depositing the money repeatedly, when he demanded his earnings, he was further asked to pay additional funds, and his money was never returned. He suffered a total loss of Rs.3.75 lakhs.

3. During investigation, it was found that the calling numbers were operated through the website waho.pro, which is hosted on a U.S.-based server. Inquiry regarding the same is still pending.

4. Further investigation revealed that Rs.90,000/- of the cheated amount was transferred into an IDFC First Bank account belonging to one Ahtisham S/o Lt. Tahseen Ali, R/o R-144, Gali No. 7, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi.

5. On 24.07.2025, a raid was conducted in Laxmi Nagar and accused Ahtisham was traced. During interrogation, he disclosed that he opened the said IDFC account on the instructions of one Mukesh Luthra @ Pankaj in exchange for a commission of Rs.8,000/-, and that Mukesh was present at the time of account opening. He further stated that Mukesh got the cheated money transferred into his account, which he then withdrew through cheque, (recorded by the bank CCTV footage) and handed over the cash to Mukesh, who paid him his commission of Rs.8,000/- for his role. Accused Ahtisham was arrested.

6. Co-accused Mukesh Luthra @ Pankaj S/o Gulshan Luthra R/o H No. 13/55, Geeta Colony, East Delhi, was traced, at the instance of Ahtisham. During interrogation, he disclosed that he gave the cheated funds to co- accused Garvit, who deposited the money via cash-deposit machines into multiple mule Accounts provided by the present Applicant, in exchange for cryptocurrency. Mukesh was arrested and sent to JC.

7. During further investigation, a Notice under Section 35(3) BNSS was served to co-accused Garvit @ Golu. He initially failed to join the investigation and sought Anticipatory Bail, which was granted on grounds of settlement and with a direction to cooperate. He later joined the investigation and disclosed that he obtained several accounts through Mukesh Luthra and supplied them to the Applicant/Aayush Goyal, who further circulated them on cryptocurrency platforms, for receiving cheated funds.

8. The incriminating WhatsApp chats between co-accused Garvit and Applicant were recovered from Garvit’s mobile phone, showing the petitioner sharing multiple bank account det