Chandigarh Court dismisses bail plea of accused in over Rs 2 crore digital arrest case

A local court Chandigarh has dismissed a bail application of an accused, Shrut Mohan Nargeta, resident of Zirakpur, District SAS Nagar, Mohali, arrested in over Rs 2 crores digital arrest case.

Police registered the FIR in the present case on the complaint of a person, Jarnail Singh Banwait, resident of Sector 49, Chandigarh, who reported that he is engaged in business in England and arrived in India on January 20, 2026, along with his wife, while his children reside in England.

On February 27, 2026, he received a call on his mobile from an unknown number.

The caller inquired about a mobile number and claimed to be calling on behalf of a senior officer, namely Vijay Khanna, and requested the complainant to join a video call.

During the video call, the complainant was falsely accused of selling his Aadhar card to one Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways). Under threats of arrest and legal action, he disclosed details of two bank accounts and seven fixed deposits. Thereafter, he was repeatedly threatened and coerced into transferring huge amounts through RTGS transactions between March 02, 2026, to March 20, 2026, totalling Rs 2,05,52,584.

Investigating agency has unearthed the trail of the transaction and has collected sufficient evidence in the shape of the account number which was beneficiary of the fraud.

Counsel of the accused argued that the accused has been falsely implicated in the case.

FIR was registered against the unknown persons, but later on the Investigating Agency has arrested 6 persons.

No specific role has been attributed to the accused.

Public prosecutor opposed the bail and said that all the accused persons, including accused, had in furtherance of their criminal conspiracy digitally arrested the complainant and got transferred a sum of Rs 2.05 crores. It is further submitted that two mobile phones and one sim card was provided by the accused to co-accused Aniket on whose disclosure statement, the present accused has been arrested.

After hearing of the arguments, the court dismissed the bail application. Court said that such types of cases are increasing day by day and have serious repercussions on the society as a whole. Cyber crime cannot be equated to ordinary crimes under IPC or other such penal laws. Such crimes are committed by persons who are educated and well conversant with technology, hacking systems, forging records, fabricating accounts, siphoning funds and all these persons may be sitting in different locations in the country.

In these circumstances, looking into the serious, grave and alarming nature of the allegations so levelled against the accused, this Court finds no merits in the instant bail application and the same stands dismissed.