FARAZ MOHD. RAFIQ PANSARI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Apprehending arrest, in connection with Crime No. 301/2020 registered with Panvel City Police Station for the offences punishable under Sections 120B , 201 , 465 , 468 , 471 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 66C of the Information and Technology Act , 2000, applicants are seeking pre- arrest bail.

(2.) Prosecution's case is as under : . Panvel City Police Station received a secret information, that the applicants and co- accused, executed about more than 1,000 online transactions through shopping sites using hacked debit/credit cards of foreign nationals. DCP, Zone- II, Panvel, Navi Mumbai directed enquiry which revealed, online purchases were made from the sites of www.mi.com, www.myntra.com, www.healthkart.com, www.zomato.com, www.grofers.com, www.nearbuy.com, www.pepperfry.com, www.oyo.com through suspect mobile numbers by using credit and debit cards of foreign nationals. Online purchases of electronic goods worth Rs.48,00,000/- were found to be made which were sold to Indian customers. Investigation revealed that, particulars like, name of the card holder, address, State, Country Zipcode (postal code in USA), card number, its expiry date and CVV (Card Verification Value) number was derived through websites Fe-acc18.ru and https://Unicc.cm/Orders/index. These two websites run on the information which they get from, "darkweb", which is accessible by means of special software allowing users and website operators to remain untraceable. The "darkweb" is part of internet i.e. not visible to search engines and requires use of an browser called TOR. One can buy credit card particulars, hire hackers to attack computers and can buy user names and passwords from this website.

(3.) It is the prosecution's case that, applicants and co-accused misused/hacked, particulars of credit/debit card holders for making aforesaid online purchases. Investigation revealed that, card details were used by the applicants for creating Gmail, Hotmail Account, matching to the owner/holder of the card, which the applicants kept on changing their I.P. address, by using different software to keep themselves anonymous to hide their identity.