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The court noted that the present case involves a transnational racket of cybercriminals, in which vulnerable foreign nationals are defrauded by gaining unauthorised access to their computer systems and inducing them to transfer funds in cryptocurrency.
The Rouse Avenue Court recently remanded Lakshay Vij, a cryptocurrency handler, to 14 days of judicial custody following an interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a cryptocurrency case.
Notably, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had previously arrested Lakshya Vij under the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act for allegedly duping a U.S. woman of Rs around 3.3 crore by impersonating a Microsoft and asking her to transfer an investment of USD 400,000 from her bank account to a cryptocurrency wallet.
In light of this, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Nishant Garg in its order said, "Since the investigation is at its initial stages, for the purpose of a fair and expeditious investigation and to prevent the accused from tampering with the evidence and influencing the witnesses, accused Lakshay Vij is remanded to judicial custody till 11.11.2024."
Noting that the accused's involvement is prima facie clear, the court emphasized that the investigation carried out so far has revealed a transnational racket of cyber criminals, whereby vulnerable foreign nationals are defrauded by gaining unauthorized access to their computer systems and inducing them to transfer funds in cryptocurrency.
During the hearing, Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Saurabh Singh, appearing for CBI, submitted that during police custody, when the accused was confronted with incriminating material recovered and seized from other accused persons, he disclosed his association with accused Prafful Gupta and Karan Chugh. The APP informed the court that efforts were made to recover the accused’s mobile phone, but it could not be located.
APP further called for the accused's judicial remand to prevent him from influencing the witnesses and tampering with the evidence and to ascertain the identity and whereabouts of other accused persons as well.
Refuting the said claims, Advocate Prabhav Ralli, alongside Yuvraj Bansal and Vanya Gupta, appearing for Lakshya Vij opposed the judicial remand on the ground that the arrest itself was illegal and since the accused was already in judicial custody in another case, there was no scope of tampering with evidence or influencing any witness.
After hearing the submissions, the court concluded that the production, arrest, and remand of the accused had not been legally challenged to date.
''No bail application on behalf of the accused in this case has been filed," it added.
Case Title: CBI vs. Prafful Gupta & Ors.
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