Srinagar, Nov 3: A Court here on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of two persons accused of deducting over Rs 90,000 from bank account of a person through cyber fraud.
After hearing additional public prosecutor Farooq Ahmad and defence counsel, the Court of Second Additional Sessions Judge Mohammad Ashraf Bhat, Srinagar, observed that online fraud involving cyber-crime is an enormous rise in the country.
“Therefore, courts should deal such matters with iron hand. Now-a-days, these offences have become much more worrying as they are being conducted through electronic means, the prevention of which requires strict and prompt action for the safety of innocent citizens,” court added.
It said that the modus operandi of the crime suggests meticulous planning and deft execution.
Court observed that one of the accused as claimed by defence counsel is a postgraduate student and another accused is a well- established businessman.
“Instead of using their qualification or expertise for some novel purpose, they chose to earn their livelihood by cheating gullible people by using fraudulent methods,” Court observed.
It added that the augmentation of cyber-crimes, particularly in cases where people operate a network to lure gullible people into fake schemes or fraudulent means and cheat them of their hard earned money, is a serious threat to society.
The Court said that offences alleged against accused are admittedly heinous and serious in nature.
“The nature of the offences alleged and their heinousness along with the circumstances in which the offences are committed, do not in my view support the plea of bail of the petitioners (accused), particularly at this stage of case, investigation of which is yet to be culminated,” court said.
It added that grant of bail to the accused would be at the cost of prejudice to the prosecution and the society at large.
“Therefore on an overall view of the case, the case for grant of bail is not made out in favour of the petitioners/accused. Resultantly, application for bail merits rejection and is accordingly rejected.”
Earlier, additional public prosecutor Farooq Ahmad vehemently opposed the bail application, submitting that during investigation it was found the accused have used multiple phone numbers for committing cyber fraud and cheating, adding, “their release on bail will defeat the process of law.”