Interim Order 10

Order Details: COPY OF ORDER
Pdf Text: CC No. CBI/64/2023
RC-221 2023 E0014
CBI vs. Himanshu @ Rinku Asija & Ors
20.10.2023
Present: Sh. Arjun Anand, Ld. APP for the CBI.
Accused Sahil Pal produced from JC.
1. Matter is listed today for orders on the point of cognizance.
2. The brief facts of the present case are that, the instant case
FIR was registered on the basis of credible source information to
the effect that Sahil Pal, Ashish Bhambani alongwith others are
engaged in illicit activities, impersonating government officials of
Canada and subsequently committing crypto currency frauds using
computer resources and communication devices. It has been alleged
that they have cheated/ defrauded Mr. Trishan Goussard, a canadian
resident by impersonating themselves as officials of Government of
Canada and they coerced him into depositing CAD 7006 into a
crypto wallet to evade potential fraud charges against his social
insurance number. Investigation has established that accused
Himanshu Asija @ Rinku collaborated in criminal conspiracy with
Sahil Pal and unidentified accomplices. Illegal activities revolved
around defrauding foreign nationals through call centers based in
Delhi. It was also revealed that accused persons systematically
produced and operated campaigns designed to gather contact
information from overseas victims and dupe foreign nationals.
They leveraged various technological means, including robo calls,
VOIP calls, voice mails.
3. During investigation it has substantiated that aforesaid
accused persons alongwith their associates, employed internet
based calling software such as Xlite, ViCi-dialer and various VOIP
applications capable of manipulating caller ID information. It has
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been alleged that this crafty manipulation made it appear as if
accused persons were calling from legitimate organizations or
government agencies, which were impersonating, once they had a
target or victim on the line, accused persons utilized a range of
deceptive scripts. These scripts often posed as government entities
like the Social Insurance Number Services, Social Security
Administration, National Insurance Administration, Taxation
Department, Payback Loan Providers and various tech support
companies, all having the aim of gaining the trust of their victims. It
has been alleged that in conjunction with their unidentified
associates, exploited the crypto accounts of KYC-verified users
who were registered on cryptocurrency exchange platforms and this
strategic manoeuvre allowed them to easily liquidate the ill-gotten
cryptocurrency funds. It has also been alleged that accused
Himanshu Asija @ Rinku and Sahil Pal orchestrated the transfer of
fraudulently obtained Bitcoin (BTC) to the Binance wallet
belonging to accused Ashish Bhambhani and accused Ashish
Bhambhani facilitated his Binance wallet for the benefit of
aforesaid accused persons, all without making any personal
investment in the cryptocurrency wallet.
4. During investigation, it has transpired that crypto wallet used
was registered in the name of Mr. Sahil Pal, email ID
Sahilpal1666@ gmail.com, mobile no 8860344110 and Mr. Ashish
Bhambani email ID bhambani_ashish@ yahoo.cacom, mobile no.
9999460088. During search of the residential premises of accused
Sahil Pal on 25.07.2023, 06 mobile phones including Sim cards,
printouts of emails rnkuasija@gmail.com,
Sahilpal1666@gmail.com, sahilpal9500@gmail.com and
incriminating documents such as whatsapp chats in respect of
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calling of foreign nationals, transaction of crypto scripts related to
text support services and social insurance as well as Indian currency
notes amounting to Rs. 99,97,500/- and US $3500 were seized.
Investigation revealed that two Bitcoins were transferred via block
chain to a wallet owned by accused Sahil on the binance platforms.
Notice u/s 41A CrPC dated 25.07.2023 was given to accused to
appear before the IO on 26.07.2023 at 10.00 am and he joined
investigation at 12.30 pm. During interrogation, accused was
confronted with the recoveries made during the search from his
residential premises i.e. the source of money recovered and
whereabouts of his associates. However, accused did not provided
satisfactory answers regarding the user of the virtual numbers and
use of the scripts nor he disclosed the name of his other
associates/accomplices who had conspired with him to cheat the
foreign nationals in the guise of text support services and social
insurance etc. Accused did not provided any information in respect
of the numbers of the victims and the exact pretext to call them and
information in respect of software being used for calling the
victims. Accused disclosed that in respect of transactions pertaining
to BTCs (Bitcoins), he was doing the same at the instance of Rinku
@ Himanshu but he did not disclose as to how he used to convert
the BTCs into US $ and further transfer of the same in other crypto
wallet in order to get cash. Accused did not disclosed the entire
modus operandi adopted in the instant crime and the source of huge
cash of Rs. 1 crore (approximately) found in his possession.
Accused did not cooperated with the process of investigation and
therefore, he was arrested on 26.07.2023 and was produced before
this court on 27.07.2023.
5. After culmination of investigation, the charge sheet was filed
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before this court for the offences punishable under section 120B r/w
420/384 IPC and section 66(D) of the IT Act and substantive
offences thereof and submissions on the point of cognizance were
heard.
6. I have gone through the final report alongwith the documents
annexed with it and have considered the submissions of IO and Ld.
APP for the CBI.
7. There are clear and categorical finding in the final report
against the accused persons qua the commission of offences for
which they have been charge-sheeted i.e. offences punishable under
section 120B r/w 420/384 IPC and section 66(D) of the IT Act and
substantive offence thereof. Accordingly, in view of the foregoing
discussion, I take cognizance. Let accused persons (not arrested)
be summoned through HIO and SP concerned for the NDOH.
8. Let court notice be also issued to IO directing him to appear
in person alongwith three spare copies of chargesheet and
documents annexed with it to be supplied to the accused persons.
9. List for appearance of IO/ accused persons/ compliance of
section 207 CrPC/ further proceedings on the date already fixed i.e.
04.11.2023.
(DEEPAK KUMAR-II)
ACMM-2 cum ACJ
RACC New Delhi / 20.10.2023
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