Ahmedabad Court Grants Bail To Two Taiwanese Nationals Accused Of Defrauding Senior Citizen Of ₹79 Lakh

The City Sessions Court at Ahmedabad granted regular bail to two Taiwanese nationals in a cyber fraud case, holding that further detention was unnecessary after the filing of the charge sheet and that the accused could not be kept in custody indefinitely in a case where the maximum punishment was five years.In the first case of applicant Shen Wei Hao, Additional Sessions Judge Hemangkumar Girishkumar Pandya, in his April 1 order said:In its order, the court stated, “In my view as the charge sheet has been filed against the applicant accused, the further detention of the applicant accused is not required. The alleged offence is not punishable with death or imprisonment for life. The trial of the case will take long time to conclude. The applicant is in judicial custody since 13.10.2024. The applicant accused cannot be kept in custody for indefinite period wherein the maximum punishment prescribed is five years imprisonment. There is only one criminal antecedents against the applicant accused. The alleged offence is triable by the Judicial Magistrate.”The court allowed the bail application moved in connection with an FIR registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Ahmedabad City. The FIR was registered under Sections 61(criminal conspiracy), 204(Personating a Public Servant), 316(2)(Criminal breach of Trust), 318(2) (cheating) BNS and Sections 66-C(Punishment for Identity Theft) and 66-D (Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008The FIR pertained to allegations of cyber fraud and cheating involving impersonation of officials and defrauding a senior citizen of over ₹79 lakh through coordinated video calls and coercion, as stated in Shen Wei Hao's bail plea. In the second case involving applicant Wang Chun Wei, the sessions judge granted bail on April 16 ruling that the facts and circumstances of his detention mirrored those of his co-accused, Shen Wei, and applying the principle of parity.The Court held, “The applicant is in judicial custody since 13.10.2024. The maximum punishment prescribed for the alleged offence is up to five years. The offence is triable by the Court of Ld. Magistrate. Further, trial is likely to consume time and the applicant is likely to suffer pre-trial conviction. Moreover, similarly situated co-accused namely Shen Wei Hao alias Chris has been enlarged on regular bail by this Court vide order dated 01.04.2025 passed in Criminal Misc. Application No.2338 of 2025.”The applicants had argued that they have been wrongly implicated in the offence. It was submitted that investigation in the case has been concluded and Investigating Officer has filed charge-sheet before the trial Court, which has culminated into a Criminal Case. It was further stated that upon close scrutiny of chargesheet papers, it culls out that there is no direct or indirect role of the present applicant whatsoever with the complainant in the present offence. The State had claimed that the accused had conspired, where they posed themselves as CBI officers and and threatened the complainant with arrest after which the complainant and his wife transferred Rs.79,34,639 in different accounts but they did not return the amount and thus cheated the complainant. The bail was granted subject to conditions including furnishing a personal bond of ₹15,000, surrender of passports, and restrictions on travel outside India.Click Here To Read Order in Shen Wei Hao @ Chris v. State of Gujarat (Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 2338 of 2025)Click Here To Read Order in Wang Chun Wei @ Sumukha v. State of Gujarat (Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 2774 of 2025)

Ahmedabad Court Grants Bail To Two Taiwanese Nationals Accused Of Defrauding Senior Citizen Of ₹79 Lakh

Bhavya Singh

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