SC grants interim protection to accused in alleged fraud call centre case
Jan 21, 2023
New Delhi [India], January 21 : The Supreme Court has granted interim protection from arrest to one person, in connection with a case related to the alleged fraud call centre and cheating persons residing in various foreign countries including USA.
A Bench of justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli also issued notice to CBI on Sanket Bhadresh Modi's plea challenging the Delhi High Court order and granted interim protection from arrest to the petitioner subject to the condition that he will be participating in the investigation diligently.
Sanket Modi, who was represented by Senior Advocate AM Singhvi and advocate-on-record Pallavi Pratap has challenged the Delhi High Court order dated January 9 2022 which rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
The top court on Friday while issuing notice to CBI, said, "Having taken note of the sequence of events where the petitioner(s) (Sanket Modi) had been granted interim protection by the Trial Court, there shall be interim protection against the arrest of the petitioner subject to the petitioner participating in the investigation diligently and also complying with the conditions under Section 438 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.)"
The Petitioner Modi is one of the directors of a company named SM Technomine Pvt. Ltd which is a lead generation company, and supports the sales as well as marketing teams of various clients to achieve their sales targets. Petitioner said in the petition that their client's sales team regarding leads about their products or services and the mentioned company helps them to reach out to the prospective buyer.
The CBI had conducted raids at various premises of SM Technomine Pvt. Ltd. on October 4 and 5 and seized the mobile phones and servers.
A case was registered against Sankat Modi, his company and other accused under section 120 (B) read with Sections 170, 384, 420 and 503 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66-C, 66-D, 75 and 85 of the IT Act, 2000.
The Petitioner said that he and his team fully cooperated in the probe.
The Petitioner had earlier applied for anticipatory bail before the Rouse Avenue Court, which dismissed his plea. He moved Delhi High Court against the trial court order. As he failed to get relief from Delhi High Court, Sanket Modi moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi HC order.
According to FIR, information has revealed that company E Sampark in criminal conspiracy with other companies running fraud call centres in India has been involved in cheating and defrauding persons residing in various foreign countries including the USA.
These fraud callers operating from call centres impersonate themselves as Government officials such as IRS or Immigration officers of the USA or falsely associate themselves with banking and financial institutions, the agency alleged. The fraud callers have coerced the victim to pay fees, fines or taxes etc. through various means and to disclose their sensitive bank account details and their credentials, the FIR said.
