CBI Court denies bail to accused in cyber-fraud racket

The CBI said that the accused had allegedly posed as officials of the US Internal Revenue Service and immigration authorities, threatening legal action against the victims for suspicious activity and coercing them to transfer money to mule bank accounts, hawala operators, and cryptocurrency

MUMBAI: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Saturday rejected bail petitions of Amit Dube and Savio Gonsalves, who were arrested in July for allegedly running a large-scale cyber fraud racket from Pune and Mumbai, targeting and defrauding people from the United States.

CBI Court denies bail to accused in cyber-fraud racket

According to CBI, the incident dates back to July, when they raided an illegal call centre in Mumbai and seized 27 mobile phones, 17 laptops, ₹1.6 lakh in cash, and cryptocurrency worth nearly ₹7 lakh. Subsequently, Gonsalves, Dube and their co-accused Tarun Shenai were arrested.

The CBI said that the accused had allegedly posed as officials of the US Internal Revenue Service and immigration authorities, threatening legal action against the victims for suspicious activity and coercing them to transfer money to mule bank accounts, hawala operators, and cryptocurrency. They also posed as agents of various e-commerce platforms, selling gift cards and got the money transferred to them.

The CBI investigation has revealed that Gonsalves played a key role in running the racket while Dube and his co-accused Tarun Shenai owned the call centres and routed funds through hawala channels.

Rejecting the pleas, Special Judge (CBI) Dr J.P. Darekar observed that the investigation was at a crucial stage and that the bail could allow the accused to tamper with cloud-hosted digital evidence or influence witnesses. “If the accused is released on bail, there is a possibility that he may flee or tamper with the prosecution evidence,” the order said.