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11. The records further reveals that on 21.11.2023, the respondent Nos.10 and 11 filed an affidavit-in-opposition. The said affidavit-in-opposition brings on record various documents which are very pertinent to the instant dispute. The said documents have been collectively enclosed as Annexure-A series. The first document is an enrollment form of the daughter of the petitioner wherein the address was duly mentioned as village Murara, PO Rangia and the date of birth was mentioned as 11.04.1990. Along with the said application form, the identity card issued by the Rangia Higher Secondary School and an electricity bill issued by the APDCL authority was enclosed. It is also seen that another person impersonating the daughter of the petitioner submitted an application on 01.10.2020 at 15.41 Hrs. for SIM Swap. The date of birth of the imposter was mentioned as 01.01.1985 and from a perusal of the said application, it is seen Page No.# 10/20 that the said application was submitted at Guwahati though the SIM Card belonged to a person residing at Rangia. Along with the said application, an Election Commission of India Photo ID Card was submitted, wherein the address mentioned as village Hiragota PS Rangia. There is another application which was submitted by the actual subscriber to the SIM Card i.e. the petitioner's daughter on 04.10.2020 at 10.52 Hrs. at Rangia. The document further shows that the application was duly received by the Point of Sale Agent of the respondent No.10 along with an Electoral Photo Identity Card, which belonged to the daughter of the petitioner, wherein the address was mentioned as village Murara, PS Rangia, Sub-Division Kamrup.

18. During the course of the hearing, this Court enquired from the Investigating Officer as to how the investigation was carried out and what transpired therefrom. The Investigating Officer submitted that during investigation it came to light that the arrested accused persons taking the benefit that the petitioner is a senior citizen somehow managed to get the ATM Debit Card details as well as the ATM PIN. Thereupon, the arrested accused persons went to a CSP (Customer Service Point) of a Bank and obtained the mobile number in connection with the bank account of the petitioner. It also came to light during investigation that these accused persons called up the petitioner and informing him that certain amount is to be deposited in his account sought for the name of the person whose mobile number the petitioner had put in his bank account. Upon being able to get that information from the petitioner, the accused persons, obtained the fake electoral Identity Card of the same name of the petitioner's daughter and thereupon managed to get a fresh SIM by way of SIM Swap. It also came to light during investigation, that the said amounts were withdrawn in the name of "Quick Silver Solution", a gift card solution provider through Dark Net Facility and, thereupon, 20% of the said amount was retained by another accused person, who is yet to be apprehended and the remaining amount had been transferred to the arrested accused Page No.# 15/20 persons, who had in the meantime, already transferred the said amount to some other accounts, which could not be traced. He further submitted that upon investigation, the charge-sheet has been submitted. But as the person who took the 20% was yet to be apprehended, a request had been made for further investigation.

19. Today, during the course of the hearing, the Chief Manager of SBI Rangia Branch was also present, wherein he explained as to how the internet banking facility could be availed without a branch visit. He further submitted that there was no fault on the part of the bank, which resulted in the fraudulent transactions and in fact, it was the fault on the part of the Airtel authorities for permitting the sim swapping without proper verification. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the SBI also joining the Chief Manager, submitted that the petitioner had also compromised certain details, else the Debit card details, as well as the PIN Number could not have been obtained by the accused. It is under such circumstances, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the SBI submitted that there is no fault on the part of the SBI and as the petitioner had compromised the details, it is on account of that, the petitioner has to be also blamed for the loss suffered by him.

24. In the instant case, a perusal of the materials on record and after hearing the learned counsels appearing on behalf of the parties, it transpires that the petitioner herein had duly informed the respondent SBI on 09.10.2020 and this aspect of the matter is apparent from a perusal of Annexure-9 to the writ petition, which is a due acknowledgement by the Chief Manager, SBI Rangia Branch. Under such circumstances, the reporting was done within a period of four to seven working days. There is no material which would show that the petitioner had shared the payment credentials as would be apparent from the investigation, which has been carried out. From the investigation, it appears that the fraudsters had somehow managed to obtain the debit card details as well as the PIN number. Clause 12 of the Circular dated 06.07.2017 imposes the burden upon the SBI to prove that there was a negligence on the part of the petitioner. Merely stating that the petitioner may have compromised the details would not be sufficient. In addition to that this is not a case where OTP details were shared by the petitioner. The present is a case, where the fraudsters have not only obtained the ATM Debit Card details, ATM PIN Number, but also fraudulently applied for SIM Swap which the respondent Nos.10 & 11 allowed in conflict with Clause (iii) of the Circular of DOT. Thereafter, these fraudsters had opened the internet banking facility as well as the Yono application and thereby siphoned off the money. As regards the UPI payments, the same as could be gathered during the hearing could have been activated with the SIM Card being available.