New Delhi: A Delhi court has denied bail to an alleged cyber fraud syndicate kingpin, citing strong evidence of his role in running a fake travel agency that duped non-resident Indians (NRIs) by selling fraudulent flight tickets through social media.Rejecting the plea, Additional Sessions Judge Harguravinder Singh Jaggi noted the risk of the accused tampering with electronic evidence if released. “Given that the applicant’s syndicate operates globally to dupe NRIs, his capacity to flee and remotely erase digital data poses a serious threat to the administration of justice,” the court said.The case stems from a first information report (FIR) filed by Tajinder Singh, who alleged that his NRI brother, Gagandeep Singh, and his in-laws were cheated while trying to book international flight tickets to India.According to the complaint, the victims came across a page on social media, “@flypedia.ca”, and were later contacted via WhatsApp. They were induced to transfer Rs 3.8 lakh into multiple bank accounts.Seeking bail, the accused argued that the arrest of co-accused persons on April 29 constituted a material change in circumstances. The court rejected the contention, holding that the subsequent arrests did not alter the case against him.The defence also challenged the legality of the arrest, alleging that a notice issued under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) gave the accused only 10 minutes before he was taken into custody.The court dismissed the argument, noting that the brief window was due to the risk of destruction of digital evidence. “As preservation of electronic evidence is crucial in cybercrime cases, immediate arrest to secure the logged-in devices was justified,” it said.The accused’s claim that he was merely a vendor and that flypedia.ca belonged to another person did not find favour with the court, which pointed to his alleged involvement in similar cases in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. “The recovery of digital devices from the applicant’s possession, which were logged into the fraudulent Instagram and WhatsApp accounts, establishes a strong prima facie link to a large-scale fraud,” the court said.Stressing the need for continued investigation into the money trail, the court said, “The case involves a highly organised international cyber syndicate. The recovery of Rs 47 lakh in cash and the necessity of further custodial tracing of the money trails place this case squarely within the caveat, disentitling the applicant to leniency.”
