Patna High Court - Orders
Shiv Kumar vs The State Of Bihar on 13 January, 2022
Author: Sandeep Kumar
Bench: Sandeep Kumar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.38807 of 2020
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-163 Year-2020 Thana- WARISLIGANJ District- Nawada
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SHIV KUMAR S/o Late Sanjay Pandit R/o Village- Baghi Chakwae, P.S.-
Warisaliganj, District- Nawada.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar
2. Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), LIC Building, Cannaught Place, New
Delhi. New Delhi
3. The Reserve Bank of India, Patna Bihar
4. The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) Bihar
5. Instagram India
6. Facebook India
7. Twitter India
8. Youtube India
9. WhatsApp India
10. Messenger India
11. Meta India
12. Google India. India.
... ... Opposite Party/s
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner : Mr. Pramod Kumar Verma, Advocate
For the Union of India : Dr. K.N. Singh, Addl. Solicitor General
Mr. Manoj Kumar Singh, Advocate
For the R.B.I. : Mr. K.K. Jha, Senior Advocate
Mr. Amit Prakash, Advocate
For the State : Mr. Ajay, G.A.-5
Mr. Shailendra Kumar, APP
For JIO : Mr. Ratnakar Pandey, Advocate
For Airtel and Vodafone : Mr. Rajesh Ranjan, Advocate
For the Intervenor : Mr. Bhaskar Shankar, Advocate
Mrs. Prakritita Sharma, Advocate
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP KUMAR
ORAL ORDER
12 13-01-2022Heard Dr. K.N. Singh, learned Additional Solicitor Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 2/9 General of India assisted by Mr. Manoj Kumar Singh, learned C.G.C. for the Union of India, Mr. Kaushal Kumar Jha, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Amit Prakash, learned counsel for the Reserve Bank of India (for short "R.B.I.), Mr. Ajay, G.A.-5 assisted by Mr. Shailendra Kumar, learned APP for the State along with Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur, Mr. Bhaskar Shankar and Ms. Prakritita Sharma, learned counsel for the Intervenor, Mr. Suresh Prasad Singh, learned counsel for the Punjab National Bank (for short "P.N.B.") with Mr. Sanjay Sinha, A.G.M. of the Punjab National Bank and Mr. Shailesh Thakur, Additional Director of Financial Intelligence Unit. The Superintendents of Police Nawada and Nalanda have also joined the proceeding virtually apart from other officials of the Reserve Bank of India pursuant to the last order of this Court.
Punjab National Bank matter of Muzaffarpur With regard to siphoning off Rs. Five crores, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur, has informed the Court about the stage of investigation as well as other issues in the case.
At the very outset, the P.N.B. and R.B.I. officials have been asked about the refund of the amount to the various Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 3/9 account holders from whose accounts the money has been siphoned off. On this, the Bank officials have said that they are governed by the R.B.I. guidelines and they are conducting enquiry and after conclusion of the enquiry the amount shall be credited in the accounts of the account holders as per the R.B.I. guidelines.
This Court is surprised at the stand of the P.N.B. and R.B.I. officials. It is an admitted position that the amount has not been withdrawn by the account holders but the amount has been siphoned off from the accounts in which prima facie a Bank employee is also found involved. When the involvement of the Bank employee has been found and he has been arrested, the Bank cannot say that it is not responsible for returning the amount. The P.N.B. is a nationalized Bank and citizens keep their hard earned money in the nationalized Banks like Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India with presumption that their money will be safe in those banks. The Banks are utilizing the money of various account holders for their own purpose and if because of their mistake, fault in their system/'App' then it is the Bank which is responsible to return the money to the account holders and it should be done forthwith without waiting for any enquiry at the end of the Bank.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 4/9 The P.N.B. is directed to come up with a firm statement on 21.01.2022 with regard to return of the amount in the accounts of the account holders who have been cheated.
The R.B.I. guidelines which was being relied by the R.B.I. officials with regard to filing of complaints when a person has been cheated and amount has been siphoned off from his account does not seem to be reasonable as the time limit given by the R.B.I. to register a complaint is very less. If a bona fide account holder has not visited the Bank and got his passbook updated and has not got any message on his mobile phone about the fraudulent transfers being made in his account then he cannot be directed to bear the loss which has happened on account of involvement of the Bank employees along with criminals. The R.B.I. should come up with guidelines considering the present day situation in which till date Ten thousand crores has been siphoned off from the Banks by criminals by committing fraud and the very basis of this fraud is the sharing of bank details of customers with the criminals by the Bank employees for illegal gain. Unless and until the Bank employees are involved, the details of the account holders including their mobile numbers and KYC etc. cannot be leaked out.
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 5/9 This Court has pointed out its concerns to the R.B.I. and it is for the R.B.I. officials to reply to the same on the next date of hearing i.e. on 21.01.2022.
The Punjab National Bank is also directed to interact with the Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur, who has pointed out some issues with the 'App' of P.N.B. and thereafter the P.N.B. will take corrective measures to address the issues pointed out by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur.
The officials of the P.N.B. and R.B.I. who have appeared today are again required to appear on 21.1.2022.
The R.B.I. is directed to file its response to the notes of F.I.U. in a simple language so that the Court can pass necessary directions.
Violation of TRAI guidelines by the Telecom Companies.
The Circle Heads of all Telecom Companies operating in the State of Bihar excluding BSNL have joined the proceeding virtually.
This Court has asked them a specific question with regard to Circular dated 09.08.2012. Clause-10 of the aforesaid Circular requires that the service provider is to lodge F.I.R. in Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 6/9 the concerned Police Station or complaint in the competent Court if any forged document is found with CAF(Customer Application Form).
On the query of the Court, all the Telecom Companies have said that they have been filing complaints in the office of the D.G.P. pursuant to this Circular and they have been receiving acknowledgments. It seems that all the Telecom Companies operating in the State of Bihar have found a novel way of filing complaints in the D.G.P. office to avoid lodging of F.I.R. and filing complaints. This procedure adopted by the Telecom Companies is against the guidelines of Circular dated 09.08.2012. The criminals involved in cyber crime procure prepaid sim cards on the basis of forged documents and control over the sale of prepaid sim cards by the Telecom Companies is necessary to stop the cyber frauds.
The Telecom Companies cannot be allowed to avoid the guidelines by adopting a new procedure. Initially, this Court was of the view that huge penalty should be imposed on all Telecom Companies for violating the guideline but now all the Telecom Companies have agreed and submitted before this Court that they shall be filing complaint/F.I.R. before the competent Court / concerned Police Stations, this Court, for the Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 7/9 present, is not imposing any penality upon the Telecom Companies.
The order passed dated 12.01.2022 passed by the Allahabad High Court in a Regular Bail Application has been brought to the notice of this Court. The Allahabad High Court while denying bail to four accused persons who had withdrawn money fraudulently from the account of a retired High Court Judge of the Allahabd High Court has considered the submission of Union of India that there should be mandatory linking of Aadahar Card with the Bank Accounts. The Allahabad High Court in its order dated 12.01.2022 considered that measures are to be taken in the case of cyber crimes/ cyber frauds/ fraudulent withdrawal of money from the Banks and it has also considered that it was necessary to fix the accountability in the cyber crime matters so that money belonging to the victims of cyber fraud is not lost.
This Court shall consider the aforesaid issue on 21.01.2021.
Matter related to Cyber Fraud in the districts of Nawada, Nalanda and Sheikhpura It has come to the notice of this Court that cyber fraud is being committed by the criminals mainly in the districts Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 8/9 of Nawada, Nalanda and Sheikhpura within the jurisdiction of Warsaliganj, Katrisarai and Shekhopur Police Stations.
The Superintendents of Police, Nalanda and Nawada have joined the proceeding virtually today.
The Superintendents of Police, Nawada, Nalanda and Sheikhpura are directed to take all efforts to arrest the criminals involved in cyber crimes under their jurisdiction of aforesaid Police Stations. They are also directed to get survey done in villages falling under the aforesaid three police stations and find out about the newly constructed palatial houses of criminal involved in cyber frauds so that they may be identified and necessary legal action shall be taken against them under the Income Tax Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act or any other relevant Acts.
All the three Superintendents of Police are directed to join the proceeding on the next date of hearing i.e. 18.01.2021.
List this case on 18.01.2022 for considering the cyber fraud matters of Nawada, Nalanda and Shikhpura districts. On that day, all the Superintendents of Police of the three districts will also join the virtual proceeding.
The learned counsel for the Telecom Companies Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.38807 of 2020(12) dt.13-01-2022 9/9 are also required to join hearing on 18.01.2022 so that further directions are passed in these cases.
(Sandeep Kumar, J) pawan/-
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