Court refuses bail to cyber fraud who targeted Navy officer in “digital arrest” case

MUMBAI: Court denies bail to Ugraram Godara, accused of defrauding a retired Navy officer of ₹7.2 lakh, citing active role in sophisticated cybercrime.

MUMBAI: The sessions court has refused bail to a 35-year-old man arrested for playing a central role in defrauding a retired Navy officer of ₹7.2 lakh in December 2024. According to the police, the accused had told the officer that he was implicated in a money laundering case involving NCP leader and former minister Nawab Malik, and he had to pay up if he wanted to cancel the ‘warrant’ against him.

Court refuses bail to cyber fraud who targeted Navy officer in “digital arrest” case

Additional sessions judge Avinash P Kulkarni refused bail to the accused, Ugraram Ghamaram Godara, a farmer from Bikaner in Rajasthan, and held that his participation in the crime was ‘active and deliberate’. The court added that releasing him on bail at this stage of the investigation would not be appropriate.

According to the police, on December 24, 2024, the victim, a 54-year-old ex-Naval officer, got a phone call from someone posing as a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) official. The official claimed that the naval officer’s Aadhaar-linked number had been misused to transfer illicit funds abroad and that he was under investigation in the Nawab Malik case.

The police said that the naval officer then received a video call from someone pretending to be a member of the Delhi Police, who claimed that an arrest warrant had been issued against him. The caller threatened that a “digital arrest” would be executed unless he paid a sum to cancel the fictitious warrant.

Alarmed, the victim transferred ₹7.2 lakh to a State Bank of India account, only realising later that he had been defrauded. He then called the cybercrime helpline, and the Cuffe Parade Police Station registered an FIR against the unknown person. The police investigation traced ₹22,500 to the accused and revealed that he had given the bank account details where the victim transferred the money. The police added that he had also sent his driver to withdraw the cash from ATMs.

The accused however argued that he had no direct role in the offence and the amount traced to him was not significant. He was willing to comply with all bail conditions and said that he had lost his wife and needed to support his young daughter and elderly father.

The prosecution strongly opposed his plea, submitting that Godara was part of a broader syndicate and had been instrumental in the crime. The court noted that Godara not only knew the individuals whose bank accounts were being used to receive the money, but had also spoken to them before each transaction. According to the police, Godara had sometimes even accompanied them to banks or instructed them to withdraw funds. The court said that this indicated a central role in the execution of the fraud.

The court held that the seriousness of the crime lay not just in the amount involved, but in the “sophisticated modus operandi” of the accused. “This is a serious cyber-economic crime which threatens the financial credibility of the country,” said the court.