Three sentenced to over 1-yr jail in cyber-fraud case

A local court has sentenced three persons Mahendra Nai, Poonam Chand and Sandeep Kumar, all residents of Rajasthan, to undergo imprisonment of one year and two months in a cyber-fraud case registered one year ago.

The police had registered the case on the complaint of a woman, Pratipal Kaur. She had stated that on July 1, 2024, she received a telephonic call and the caller stated that he was from Crime Branch, Mumbai, and a mobile number had been issued against her Aadhaar card. He said that the number was being used by a person named Naresh Goel. There were 24 complaints of money laundering filed against that number and the matter was in the Supreme Court and she would be arrested soon.

It was further stated by the caller that an inquiry against her had been initiated and she was told to deposit Rs 80 lakh in an account, and if she was found innocent then the amount would be refunded. During this time, three women talked to her and directed her to upload Skype app, which she uploaded. They sent her the copy of the order regarding the action being taken against Goyal.

On July 2, 2024, they gave her directions to go to a bank and transfer the money, for which they gave her an account number. She encashed all her fixed deposits and deposited the amount in the account shared by the fraudsters. After sending the amount through RTGS, she realised that it was a scam and she had been duped of the money. The police was informed, which started the probe and arrested all accused.

After investigation, a charge sheet was presented in the court against the accused. After hearing the arguments the court held the accused guilty under Section 317(2) of the BNS. But the court said that since no forgery, fraud or cheating had been proved against them, and acquitted the accused.