'Cyber fraud on the rise', observes Delhi court; dismisses bail plea of three accused

By Amiya Kumar Kushwaha
New Delhi [India], March 13 : A Delhi Court has dismissed the bail petition of three people, who allegedly cheated thousands through fake government websites, and observed that incidents of cyber fraud are on the rise.
While junking the bail petition of accused Tushar Nayyar, Anurag Chugh and Suraj Verma, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana on Friday said, "Incidents of cyber fraud are on the rise. The modus operandi of the accused/applicants persons in the instant case suggests meticulous planning and deft execution. The applicants are reported to be involved in cheating 2000 innocent people in the name of GeM (Government e-marketplace) Registration".
"... Considering the seriousness of allegations and nature of the offense, I am of the considered opinion that the applicants/ accused persons do not deserve the indulgence of the court. All three bail applications stand dismissed..." the Court added.
Advocate Vikas Sharma, who appeared for the accused, submitted that all three applicants used to run a call center in which they made a website wherein forms related to government jobs were available for the job aspirants. It was submitted that if aspirants wanted to apply for the said job, they had to give commission to the call center for providing the forms.
The defense lawyer further submitted that for such transactions, the call center also appointed a Chartered Accountant to look after business transactions and to pay the taxes to the Government for the earnings derived from the said commission. The lawyer submitted that applicant persons have been falsely implicated in the present case and they are languishing in jail since the day of their arrest in this false case.
Meanwhile, Additional Public Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed vehemently opposed all the three bail applications on the ground that accused persons used to cheat gullible unemployed youth on the pretext of registering them for government jobs.
It was submitted that they cheated more than 2,000 innocent people in the name of GeM Registration.
Advocate Ahmed also submitted that the accused persons made a similar website to GeM and used to run a slide showing 'This is a self-registration portal for GeM registration' and the innocent people believing it to be an official website, paid the registration fees from their hard-earned money. It is submitted that the accused persons were not authorized to even use GeM portal for registration purposes.
The Delhi Police Cybercrime Unit in February had arrested several people alleging that the gang had cheated thousands of people by creating a fake website. According to the police, the accused made a government-style website and charged three thousand rupees from people on behalf of registration fees, while registration on government sites is free.