THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE K. SUJANA CRIMINAL PETITION No.11209 OF 2025

ORDER:

The present Criminal Petition is filed praying this Court to enlarge the petitioner on bail, who is arrayed as accused No.2 in Crime No.2395 of 2024 of Cyber Crime Police Station, Detective Department, Hyderabad City, registered for the offences under Sections 66-C, 66-D ITA-2000 2008 and Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (for short ‘BNS’).

2. The case of the prosecution is that a complaint was lodged by the complainant on 07.10.2024 stating that he was contracted by a woman namely Neha who befriended him claiming to work with Cognizant and she persuaded him to invest through a online platform m.catalystmarket.com under the guise of stock trading for which he invested Rs.1,70,000/- after which she was shown a fake profit of $ 20,100 USD subsequently for withdrawal of the same he was asked to pay various charges such as tax and exchange fee, as such he transferred Rs.7,27,400/- across multiple transaction between 04.09.2024 and 01.10.2024 to different fraudulent accounts despite this payments further demands were made and later she realized that it was a scam. Hence, the complaint.

3. Heard Sri C. Sravan Kumar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Sri Arun Kumar Doddla, learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of the respondent-State.

4. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner arrayed as accused No.2 and falsely implicated in the said crime and prosecution is projecting him as the main accused without there being any cogent evidence against him and the petitioner is in judicial custody since 29.07.2025 and there is no direct evidence linking the petitioner to the cyber fraud operations in Cambodia, the alleged transaction through bank accounts were not personally handled by the petitioner. As such, he requested the Court to grant bail to the petitioner.

5. On the other hand, the learned Additional Public Prosecutor opposed the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner, stating that accused No.2 actively involved in this crime and as the report accused Nos. 1 and 2 direct collaborate and invited accused No.2 to Cambodia. As per the direction of accused No.1, the accused No.2 travelled to Cambodia in March 2024 along with three candidates. Upon arrival, accused No.1 arranged their accommodation and placed them in jobs with package of 800 to 1000 dollars per months and incentives. However, the candidates were not satisfied with the job conditions and returned to India within three months. Later accused No.2 met his childhood friend who is accused No.4 at Nizamabad and provided bank accounts and to Cyber Crimes and Police seized 23 Debit Cards, 07 Cheque Books, 05 Passbooks, 01 Laptop, 02 Tabs, 03 Shell Company Stamps, 15 Mobile Phones, 01 IDCard, from the possession of accused No.2 and it is also submitted that further investigation is still pending. Therefore, he requested the Court to dismiss the petition. 6. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondents, and upon perusal of the material placed on record, though the petitioners are innocent of the said offence, the remade CD shows that several bank passbooks and cheques were recovered from the petitioners' possession, and as seen from the record, investigation is not concluded. In view of the above, this Court is not inclined to grant the bail to the petitioner at this stage.

7. Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is dismissed. Miscellaneous petitions, pending, if any, shall stand closed.

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K. SUJANA, J Date: 15.09.2025 fm