₹58 Cr Digital Arrest Scam: Sessions Court in Mumbai Denies Bail to ‘Mastermind’, Grants Relief to Alleged Facilitator

Mumbai: A sessions court granted bail to one accused while denying it to another in the biggest digital arrest scam involving the siphoning of over Rs 58 crore from a retired pharma executive. The court differentiated between a suspected "mastermind" with international links and a "facilitator" against whom the evidence was primarily based on the inadmissible statements of co-accused.The judge took a stern view of the plea filed by Mohammad Arif, who was allegedly instrumental in transferring nearly Rs 2.5 crore of the scam proceeds. "… from the allegations levelled against the applicant and the material collected during the investigation, it is found that, the applicant is one of the mastermind involved in the commissioning of siphoning of amount received from complainant on the basis of fake digital arrest scam," judge NV Jiwane said. In a separate order involving accused Ankitkumar Shah, who was granted bail, the judge observed that the prosecution relied heavily on a statement made by a co-accused, Abdul Nasir Abdul Karim Khulli, to allege that Shah had facilitated the transfer of Rs 25 lakh in tainted money. However, the court noted a lack of corroborating physical or electronic evidence. "The statement of an accused…cannot be used against the co-accused at the stage of anticipatory or regular bail. Such statement, whether exculpatory or inculpatory are subject to the provisions of Indian Evidence Act and lack evidentiary value against co-accused at the bail stage…In view of the above dictum, the reply filed by theinvestigating officer relying upon the statement of the co-accused forshowing the role played by present applicant cannot be relied upon," the judge said. The judge further noted that despite a vast collection of WhatsApp chat histories in the chargesheet, there was nothing to link Shah's specific mobile number to the illegal transactions. Noting that the investigation is complete and the trial is unlikely to conclude soon, the court allowed Shah's release on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with strict conditions, including a ban on foreign travel.The informant reported receiving a series of calls in Aug 2025 from individuals posing as officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The fraudsters claimed the informant was involved in illegal activities linked to the chairman of a now defunct airlines and placed him and his wife under a "digital arrest." Under extreme duress and the threat of legal action, the couple was coerced into transferring the amount into various bank accounts across several weeks.In Arif's instance, the prosecution argued that his SIM card was used for net banking to move funds and that his phone contained evidence of Binance cryptocurrency transactions and contact with overseas syndicates. "The accused namely Ramaiyya Bodboina is still absconding and he needs to be arrested. If the applicant will be released on bail, then there is every possibility that he will assist the absconding accused from avoiding the investigation," the judge said.