Chandigarh court grants bail to accused in Rs 15L digital arrest scam

Chandigarh: The district court has granted regular bail to Rajasthan resident Mahinder Kumar in a case linked to a digital arrest scam involving Rs 15 lakh. The order was passed by sessions judge H S Grewal, who directed the accused to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000 along with a surety of the same amount. Mahinder Kumar had been in judicial custody since the incident and was released on Friday, following the court's decision.According to the FIR, the complainant, Sunita, informed the police that she received a call from an unknown number in which the callers claimed that a parcel sent to Iran in her name contained illegal substances such as narcotics.
The callers allegedly intimidated her by warning her of legal consequences and pressured her into transferring Rs 15 lakh from her bank account to different accounts. During investigation, the police found that Rs 10 lakh from the defrauded amount was deposited in the account of Mahinder Kumar. The remaining money was transferred to the accounts of Rajasthan residents Jai Prakash Mehra and Poonam Chand, both of whom had already been granted bail in the case.During the bail hearing, Mahinder Kumar's counsel, Swaraj Arora, argued that his client had been falsely implicated. He informed the court that in her statement before the magistrate, the complainant had said the accused was her relative and the money was transferred for business purposes. The defence submitted that the complainant stated she filed the digital arrest complaint at someone's behest and that her money had been returned. An affidavit from the complainant was also placed before the sessions court. Acting on court directions, the investigating officer conducted an inquiry and confirmed that the complainant's money had indeed been returned.Opposing the bail plea, the govt counsel maintained that the accused, along with others, was involved in a major cyber fraud against the complainant and therefore should not receive bail. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court noted that the co-accused had already been granted bail and that the question of criminal liability would be determined during trial. The court also observed that keeping the accused in custody indefinitely was not justified.While allowing bail, the court imposed conditions requiring Mahinder Kumar to cooperate with the investigation, refrain from tampering with evidence, not leave the country without permission and appear before the court on all hearing dates. MSID:: 128883966 413 |