Telangana High Court
Gourab Sethi vs The State Of Telangana on 6 October, 2022
Author: Chillakur Sumalatha
Bench: Chillakur Sumalatha
HON'BLE Dr. JUSTICE CHILLAKUR SUMALATHA
CRIMINAL PETITION No.8799 of 2022
ORDER:
1. Heard Sri Srinath Reddy, who appeared on behalf of Sri Nageshwar Rao Pujari, learned counsel on record for the petitioner. Also heard the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor, who is appearing for the Respondent-State.
2. Seeking the Court to enlarge the petitioner, who is arrayed as Accused No.4 in Crime No.513 of 2022 of Cyber Crime Police Station, Cyberabad, on bail, the present Criminal Petition is filed.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has not committed any offence whatsoever more particularly the offence punishable under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2008, and that the petitioner/Accused No.4 is falsely implicated in this case. Learned counsel also states that petitioner is in judicial custody since 17.08.2022 and the petitioner is ready to 2 Dr.CSL,J Crl.P.No.8799 of 2022 cooperate with the investigating agency during the course of investigation and thus, he may be enlarged on bail.
4. Vehemently opposing the said submission, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor contends that it is the petitioner and his gang, who are responsible for the death of an innocent person and the petitioner and others under the guise of disbursement of loans, are harassing the innocent public and number of persons committed suicide due to the harassment of loan App recoverers. Learned Assistant Public Prosecutor also states that investigation is still pending. The submission of learned Assistant Public Prosecutor is that the petitioner, who belongs to Odisha State, in case is enlarged on bail, would flew from the clutches of justice and it would not be possible to trace him out and to produce him before the Court concerned during the course of trial.
5. The material collected by the investigating agency as per the remand case diary reveals that post disturbances at Galwan of Ladakh area of India-China Border between Indian Army and China Army, the Chinese were targeting Indians by committing three types of frauds, firstly, luring the Indian 3 Dr.CSL,J Crl.P.No.8799 of 2022 youth and kids through gaming applications, secondly, the business and investments frauds and thirdly, cheating and harassing through instant loan applications. The Chinese Nationals with the help of few greedy Indian Chartered Accountants registered finance companies at various places in India by keeping them as directors and opened company bank accounts and published the Mobile loan Apps offering petty to large loans to innocent Indians and while making repayments, they started charging very high rates of interest. Further, on installation of the mobile loan application in the phones, the said App would access all the information like contact list, photos and videos without the knowledge of the mobile holder and the accessed data is used to harass those persons in case they do not repay the loan. Due to the said harassment, the victims get mentally depressed and develops suicidal tendency.
6. In the case on hand, the deceased Sudhakar installed the instant mobile loan Apps, took loan and repaid the same, but he was harassed. Further as per the deal, Accused No.3 transfers the amount to the bank account of the petitioner and directs him to purchase USDT and other crypto currency 4 Dr.CSL,J Crl.P.No.8799 of 2022 and later directs him to transfer the same to his Binance address. Accused No.3 offered commission to the petitioner. For earning easy cash, the petitioner agreed to the said offer and associated with Accused No.3. Huge transactions are narrated in the transactions detail list by which amount was converted as USDT using P2P method.
7. The aforesaid mentioned details go to show that there are grave allegations against the petitioner. To what extent, the petitioner is involved in the alleged acts, as rightly submitted by learned Assistant Public Prosecutor, has to be verified through thorough investigation. As of now, this Court does not find any grounds to honour the request of the petitioner and to enlarge him on bail.
8. The submission of learned Assistant Public Prosecutor is that investigation is still pending. The allegations, as rightly projected, are grave in nature. Therefore, this Court is of the view that the request of petitioner cannot be honoured at this stage.
9 Resultantly, the Criminal Petition is dismissed. 5
Dr.CSL,J Crl.P.No.8799 of 2022
10. Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending shall stand closed.
_________________________________________ Dr.JUSTICE CHILLAKUR SUMALATHA Date: 06.10.2022 KL/Rds