MUMBAI: A special court has rejected the bail pleas of two West Tripura residents arrested for allegedly supplying activated WhatsApp accounts to Cambodia-based cyber fraudsters involved in “digital arrest” scams.
Additional sessions judge Umesh Sorte denied bail to Shantanu Sen and Subrata Barma, citing the “serious nature” of the allegations, the “organised manner” in which the offence was allegedly committed, and the “possibility of the accused hampering” the probe.
The duo was arrested on March 8 in connection with a case registered by the West Zone cyber police after a Mumbai woman was allegedly cheated of ₹33.5 lakh.
According to the complaint, the woman began receiving calls in December 2024 from persons posing as officials from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the cybercrime department and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The callers falsely claimed that her Aadhaar card and bank accounts were linked to money laundering and threatened her with arrest.
The fraudsters allegedly sent fake documents and videos of a person in police uniform before coercing her into transferring her savings to bank accounts provided by them for “verification”. She later realised she had been duped after the callers stopped responding.
The accused claimed they were falsely implicated and argued that they had no direct contact with the complainant or any money trail linking them to the fraud amount.
The police opposed the bail plea by pointing out that the duo actively assisted and coordinated with the Cambodia-based cyber frauds by supplying them with activated, logged-in WhatsApp devices. WhatsApp chats recovered during the investigation show they received a huge commission and financially benefited from the illegal operation.
Rejecting the plea, the court noted that material collected during the investigation indicated the accused were involved in operating WhatsApp accounts using Indian SIM cards for cyber fraud activities, including digital arrest scams and that they received substantial commission from these cyber frauds.
