VINEET JHAVAR Vs. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant application under Sec. 439 of the Code of the Criminal Procedure, 1973 ('Cr.P.C.') has been filed on behalf of applicant seeking grant of regular bail in case FIR bearing no. 129/2022, registered at Police Station Special Cell, Delhi for the offences punishable under Ss. 384/385/420/468/420/471/120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ("IPC").

(2.) The present FIR emerges from a complaint lodged by one Rohan Kapoor wherein it was alleged that he had received SMS messages for loan for third COVID-19 vaccine dose on his mobile phone, and the SMS also had a link for checking eligibility. As soon as the complainant had opened the link, one mobile application namely Express Loan had got downloaded. When the complainant had filled the details of his Aadhaar Card and PAN Card in the application after installing it, a sum of Rs.4,200.00 had got instantly credited in his bank account. However, after four days of getting/availing such loan, he had started receiving threatening calls from the developers of Express Loan Application. It was further stated by the complainant that the developers of Express Loan Application had somehow got the access to the contacts stored in his mobile phone, and to threaten the complainant, the accused persons had started sending morphed images to his contacts. During the course of inquiry, the complaint against Express Loan Application was checked on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and 46 more complaints were found to have been registered against the alleged mobile application. Accordingly, the present FIR bearing no. 129/2022 was registered at Police Station Special Cell for the offences punishable under Ss. 420/384/385/468/471/120B of IPC.

(3.) Upon investigation, another complainant namely Aditya Sharma had reported that a sum of Rs.25.00 lakhs had been extorted from him in different accounts by the accused persons by morphing his images and sending to his relatives. During the course of investigation, bank statement of complainant Aditya Sharma had revealed that via a link mentioned in the complaint, transaction amount had been received by the present accused/applicant namely Vineet Jhavar in his bank accounts. The details of such payments with transaction numbers is mentioned in the Status Report filed on record.