Mumbai: A sessions court on Wednesday denied bail to a 23-year-old Jharkhand resident, Izhar Ansari, in a Rs 47.78 lakh cyber fraud case, noting his direct role as the beneficiary who supplied costly mobile handsets purchased using stolen credit card funds.Rejecting the bail plea, additional sessions judge P B Ghuge held, “….there is ample evidence against him. The other accused involved in the syndicate are not yet booked. However, the chargesheet is filed against the applicant. Having regard to the nature and gravity of offence and the evidence collected against the applicant, he is not entitled for grant of bail.”The judge further said, “This is a kind of cyber fraud wherein the credentials of the credit card are misused for causing huge monetary loss to the informant…The challenge of investigation in such kinds of offences is the identity of the perpetrators of the crime.”The court found that material collected during investigation linked Ansari to the supply of two costly mobile handsets purchased through the alleged misuse of the complainant’s credit card. It was also alleged that sale proceeds traced to Ansari’s account.According to the complaint, Najeeb Kadar, director of Liberty Oil Mills Ltd, received a call on April 11 from an unknown number offering an American bank’s credit card. After Kadar said that the card was already in use, the caller sought the card credentials. The next day, Kadar grew suspicious and contacted customer care to block the card. He was told that the card had already been blocked due to suspicious transactions. Kadar later applied for a new card, but could not activate the same. On checking the email account, Kadar found that the credentials linked to the earlier card had been changed and transactions worth Rs 47.78 lakh had been carried out.A case was registered by the Cyber Police Station, Central Division, Mumbai, for offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions of the Information Technology Act. During investigations, police found that purchases had been made through an online delivery platform using the credit card.Ansari sought bail claiming false implication, absence of criminal antecedents, completion of investigation and filing of the chargesheet. The defence said Ansari was an employee of co-accused Faizan Shaikh, that Shaikh misused Ansari’s credentials, and that he had been made a scapegoat. The defence also said no further custody was needed and Ansari was ready to follow bail conditions.Public prosecutor Ramesh Siroya opposed the bail plea, saying Ansari was involved in a serious cyber fraud and was part of a syndicate, with other accused still absconding. The state also said Ansari was from Jharkhand, from the area where activities connected with the offence were allegedly planned, and that release on bail could lead to absconding or tampering with evidence.The court noted that six profiles were used for purchase of articles and that two mobile handsets were bought and transferred to shops through Shaikh. “The present applicant had supplied those mobile handsets to Shaikh. The sale proceeds are also transferred to the account of the present applicant,” the judge said.
