The court granted bail, emphasizing the lack of substantial evidence against the applicant and the need for fair treatment in pre-trial phase.

ORDER

This application is filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023 (for short, BNSS ), seeking regular bail.

2. The applicant is the accused No.6 in Crime No.4/2024 of Cyber Crime Police Station, Thrissur District. The offences alleged are punishable under Section 420 read with Section 34 of IPC and Section 66D of IT (Amendment) Act, 2008.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that during the period from 12.01.2024 to 17.01.2024, the accused with an intention to cheat the defacto complainant fraudulently offered him an online job and induced him to join through whatsapp and telegram and induced him to deposit amount to the various bank accounts of the accused through Google Pay, Axis Bank wallet and Canara Bank wallet and thereby obtained amount to the tune of Rs.11,80,933/- ( Rupees Eleven Lakhs Eighty Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty Three Only). However, the accused did not return the money to the defacto complainant and thereby cheated him causing wrongful loss and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Sri.Shabu Sreedharan, the learned counsel for the applicant and Sri.K.A. Noushad, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

5. The learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicant with the alleged crime; hence, he is entitled to bail. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicant, and he is not entitled to bail at this stage.

6. The applicant was remanded to judicial custody on 24.02.2026. The investigation is almost over. No specific overt act has been alleged against the applicant. For these reasons, I do not find any reason to hold that the continued detention of the applicant is required for any purpose. Hence, the applicant is entitled to be released on bail.

In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions: -

(i) The applicant shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Magistrate/Court.

(ii) The applicant shall fully co-operate with the investigation.

(iii) The applicant shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m. every Saturday until further orders. He shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.

(iv) The applicant shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.

(v) The applicant shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.

(vi) The applicant shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of the bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.