Prima facie linkage to a SIM card and bank account justifies bail refusal pending trial.

The applicant filed his first application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking regular bail in Crime No. 493/2025 registered at Police Station Omti, Jabalpur, for offences under Sections 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The prosecution alleged that the complainant was induced through online advertisements, WhatsApp groups and a purported trading application to invest money on assurances of profits and IPO allotments. She allegedly paid a total of ₹50,16,000 and was thereafter asked to deposit a further ₹20,70,701.

During investigation, the applicant was implicated because transactions connected with the alleged fraud were routed through a bank account linked to a mobile number/SIM card issued in his name.

The applicant contended that he had handed over the SIM card to his acquaintance, Prem Ganesh Ghait, for temporary use, without knowledge of any unlawful activity.

He further relied on completion of investigation, filing of the charge-sheet, absence of criminal antecedents, lack of recovery of the SIM card from him, and bail granted to co-accused persons on the ground of parity.

1. Whether the applicant was entitled to regular bail under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, considering the prima facie material connecting him with the SIM card and bank account used in the alleged online fraud?

2. Whether completion of investigation, filing of the charge-sheet, absence of criminal antecedents, and bail granted to co-accused persons entitled the applicant to bail on the grounds of parity?

3. Whether the applicant’s defence that the SIM card had been handed over to another person without knowledge of its misuse could be accepted at the stage of bail?

The Court applied Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, governing the High Court’s power to grant regular bail.

It considered the allegations under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, concerning cheating and dishonest inducement resulting in delivery of property, and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000, concerning cheating by personation using a computer resource or communication device.

The Court further applied the principle that parity is not automatic; it requires comparison of the specific role and material against each accused.

Filing of a charge-sheet and completion of investigation are relevant but do not create an automatic entitlement to bail where prima facie material connects the accused with the alleged offence.

The Court found prima facie material connecting the applicant with the mobile number/SIM card and bank account allegedly used for routing the fraudulent transactions.

Although the applicant asserted that he had handed over the SIM card to Prem Ganesh Ghait and lacked knowledge of its misuse, the Court held that the circumstances of the handover, the subsequent use of the SIM card, and the applicant’s connection with the bank account required appreciation of evidence at trial and could not be conclusively accepted at the bail stage.

The applicant’s absence from the FIR did not materially assist him because his involvement could emerge during investigation.

Similarly, the absence of alleged electronic communications directly linking him to the complainant was treated as a matter for trial rather than a basis for conclusively negating the prosecution case.

The Court acknowledged that the charge-sheet had been filed and that the applicant had no criminal antecedents, but held that these mitigating factors did not outweigh the prima facie linkage to the SIM card and bank account.

Bail granted to co-accused persons did not establish parity because the applicant’s specific role and the material against him required independent consideration.

It held that the prima facie connection between the applicant, the SIM card and the bank account allegedly used in the online fraud, coupled with the need to examine his defence during trial, justified refusal of bail.

The first bail application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, was accordingly rejected.