219 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM-M-25166-2026 Date of decision : 20.05.2026 Satendra Sonpal Goswami .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab ..... Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BHARDWAJ Present :- Mr. Abhaysher Singh, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Raj Karan Singh, AAG, Punjab. RAJESH BHARDWAJ , J. (Oral)

1. Present second petition has been filed praying for the grant of regular bail to the petitioner in case bearing FIR No.0005 dated 09.04.2025, under Sections 66(C), 66(D) of Information Technology Act, 2000 and Sections 319(2), 318(4), 61(2), 336(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2) of BNS, 2023, registered at Police Station Cyber Crime, Fazilka, District Fazilka.

2. Succinctly, facts of the case are that the FIR has been lodged on the statement of complainant, Rajinder Singh. It was alleged that on 10.03.2025 at about 04:00 PM, he received a call from unidentified No.89810-59899 on his mobile No.98729-65050 wherein a person from opposite side introduced himself from CBI Police Kulaba and submitted that another mobile No.9898053277 is running in the name of the complainant and he is misusing the same by harassing other people by making unnecessary phone calls/messages from this mobile number. It was also stated that there are many complaints against the complainant which have already been registered and he will be called by Kulaba Police Station. After some time, complainant received whatsapp video call from Mobile No.9394545891 from a person wearing police uniform who introduced himself as Mr. Shikhawat and told the complainant that he has connection with Naresh Goyal who is indulging in international money laundering and has already been arrested. Thereafter, obtained account number of the complainant with the HDFC and PNB Bank through whatsapp. After that, the complainant on his own transferred a sum of Rs.14,00,000/- and receipt was also sent, but later on complainant came to know that he has been cheated. Hence, request was made to take legal action against the accused. Thus, the FIR was registered and investigation commenced and petitioner was arrested on 22.04.2025. On completion of investigation, challan was presented and on framing of charges, the trial commenced. Petitioner approached the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Fazilka, praying for grant of bail, however, after hearing both the sides, the same was dismissed vide order dated 30.08.2025. Being aggrieved, petitioner earlier approached this Court by way of filing CRM-M-64556- 2025 however, the same was dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 17.02.2026. Hence, petitioner is again before this Court by way of filing the present second petition for grant of regular bail.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner, at the outset, prays for the grant of bail on the basis of parity with that of co-accused, namely, Vipulbhai Labhubhaii. He has drawn the attention of this Court to the order dated 27.04.2026 passed by this Court in CRM-M-15097-2026 whereby co-accused of the petitioner, namely, Vipulbhai Labhubhaii has been granted the concession of regular bail. He has submitted that case of the petitioner is at par with the co-accused, who has been granted bail by this Court. He has further submitted that on the basis of the parity, the petitioner deserves to be granted bail. He has also submitted that the petitioner is behind the bars from last more than 01 year.

4. Per contra, learned State counsel has opposed the submissions made by counsel for the petitioner. However, he has endorsed the fact that case of the petitioner is at par with co-accused, namely, Vipulbhai Labhubhaii, who has already been granted bail by this Court. On instructions, he has submitted that challan has been presented and charges have been framed and out of 08 prosecution witnesses, 02 witnesses have been examined. He has produced custody certificate of petitioner, today in the Court, which is taken on record.

5. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusi