O R D E R

This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, BNSS ), seeking pre-

arrest bail.

2. The applicant is the accused in Crime No.52/2023 of Cyber Crime Police Station, Palakkad District. The offences alleged are punishable under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 .

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that during the period from 29.09.2023 to 07.10.2023, the applicant, with an intention to cheat the defacto complainant, contacted him through WhatsApp and Telegram, offered an online job for MOZ Company and to earn profit, and the defacto complainant invested amounts for the job as directed by the applicant. After that, the applicant has neither given the profit nor returned the invested amount. Hence, the defacto complainant lost Rs.16,60,850/- (Rupees Sixteen Lakhs Sixty Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty only).

4. I have heard the applicant, who appeared in person, and Smt.Sreeja V., the learned Senior Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

5. The applicant submitted that he is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. He further submitted