Rajasthan High Court Rejects Anticipatory Bail In 'Digital Arrest' Case Involving ₹80 Lakh Fraud On 83-Year-Old

The Rajasthan High Court rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by a “key conspirator” in an international cyber fraud racket that involved digital arrest of an 83-year old woman who was deceived and coerced into transferring her entire savings of around Rs. 80 Lakhs from her bank account.The bench of Justice Sameer Jain rejected the plea of compromise put forth by the petitioner on the ground that firstly the claimed compromise was not even signed by the accused himself but by his father. Further, it was held that the gravity of the offence had a larger societal impact. The Court further exercised its inherent jurisdiction to grant relief to the 83-year old complainant who had contended suffering due to acute financial hardships, and directed the trial court to release the seized amount of around Rs. 13 lakhs to her, on suitable terms and conditions, within 7 days. The petitioner submitted that a compromise was reached between him and the complainant based on which the bail application had to be allowed. As per the State, the petitioner was the “kingpin” of the entire operation of an international cyber-crime that involved use of multiple mule accounts operated by different persons and transferring of extorted amount by hawala transaction. It was further submitted that the proceeds of the crime were used for purchasing bitcoins. It was further contented that the investigation was at a crucial stage, and allowing bail would not only impact that, but also send wrong message to the society. After hearing the contentions, the Court opined that involvement of multiple accused persons, use of layered financial transactions, and the transnational dimension of the offence clearly demonstrated a well-organized and deliberated criminal operation. The Court also took into account the “grave” instance of cyber-crime that involved digital arrest and extortion of an 83-year old woman leaving her severely traumatized and even hospitalized for a considerable time. On the contention of compromise, the Court opined that it was settled principal in many Supreme Court decisions that in cases involving serious economic offences and organized cyber frauds, element of societal impact assumed significance and such matters could not be lightly compounded. “Firstly, the said compromise is not even signed by the applicant himself but by his father. Secondly, the offence alleged is not merely of a private or civil nature but has far-reaching ramifications on society at large particularly affecting unsuspecting and vulnerable individuals.”In this background, the Court held that looking at the gravity of the offence, manner of conduct, role attributed to the petitioner, further investigation and larger societal impact, the bail was dismissed. Further, taking into account the acute financial hardship and limited pensionary benefits of the complainant, the Court directed trial court to release the seized amount of around Rs. 13 lakhs to the complainant within 7 days. Title: Navin Temani v State of Rajasthan Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 122 For Petitioner: Mr. Amit Jindal; Mr. Hemant Vijay For Respondents: Mr. Rajesh Choudhary, GA-cum-AAG with Mr. Aman Kumar, AAAG Mr. Vivek Sharma, PP Mr. Manvendra Singh Shekhawat,PP Ms. Neha Goyal Mr. Rajeev Kumar Sharma, DGP, Rajasthan (through VC) Mr. Shantanu Singh, DIG, Cyber Crime Mr. Sumit Mehrada, SP, Cyber Crime Mr. Aatish Jain with Mr. Rakesh Kumar Bairwa Ms. Urmila Maharshi, complainant with Mr. Girish Sharma– present in personClick Here To Read/Download Order

Rajasthan High Court Rejects Anticipatory Bail In 'Digital Arrest' Case Involving ₹80 Lakh Fraud On 83-Year-Old

Nupur Agrawal

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