HC grants bail to social media influencer in human trafficking case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted bail to influencer Balwant Singh Kataria, requiring him to repay ₹19.67 lakh to victims of his trafficking scheme.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted regular bail to social media influencer Balwant Singh alias Bobby Kataria on Thursday.

The bench ordered that the special NIA court shall be at liberty to disburse the amount to the claimants in accordance with law after due verification.

The court granted him bail with conditions that he must deposit a demand draft of ₹19.67 lakh before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) trial court in Panchkula within two days to return the money he had taken from the victims under the pretext of sending them abroad for employment.

A division bench of justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and justice Deepak Manchanda while allowing his bail plea also imposed the condition that Kataria won’t contact any of the victims or witnesses to influence them.

The bench said that the petitioner has already been inside prison for over a year. Observing that the trial against him will likely take a long time, and noting he has no more pending cases and was willing to deposit the entire duped money, the bench approved the bail. Counsel Nikhil Ghai had appeared for Kataria before the bench.

The bench ordered that the special NIA court shall be at liberty to disburse the amount to the claimants in accordance with law after due verification.

Kataria was booked in a human trafficking case registered by Gurugram police and was arrested in May 2024. The case was later taken over by the NIA which filed a chargesheet against him in August 2024 for trafficking men to Laos, Cambodia and other countries to work for Chinese cyber fraud gangs. A special NIA court had earlier rejected Kataria’s bail plea on July 20, 2024.

The central government had urged various countries to crack down on the cyber fraud gangs operating from their land. Following this, several Indians forced to work in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries returned, revealing that Kataria had sent several victims there.

Special NIA prosecutor Sukhdeep Singh Sandhu opposed Kataria’s bail on the grounds that the investigation was still ongoing and the allegations against him were serious, with several witnesses yet to be examined.

“Kataria promised to send one of the victims to the UAE, but he sent the victim to Laos while another victim was falsely promised a job in Singapore,” he said.

However, the bench deemed it appropriate to allow the appeal, considering his incarceration tenure, the undertaking to return the money, and the likely long time required for the trial as only 23 out of 73 prosecution witnesses have been examined so far.