Pune, 1st July 2026: A court has rejected the anticipatory bail application of a man accused in a ₹34.8 lakh cyber fraud in which a senior citizen was allegedly duped through the now-common 'digital arrest' scam. District Judge P. Y. Ladekar passed the order, citing the need for custodial interrogation during the investigation.
The accused, identified as Nirved Singh, a resident of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, has been named in the case registered at Alankar Police Station following a complaint filed by the senior citizen.
According to the police, the fraud took place between February 16 and March 23. The victim allegedly received calls from fraudsters posing as CBI officials, who falsely claimed that his name had surfaced in a human trafficking case.
They threatened him with 'digital arrest' and convinced him that he had to cooperate with the investigation by transferring money to different bank accounts.
Believing the claims to be genuine, the victim transferred a total of ₹34.8 lakh to multiple accounts as instructed by the fraudsters. During the investigation, police traced Nirved Singh's alleged involvement, leading to the registration of an offence against him.
Opposing the bail plea, Public Prosecutor Sunil Hande informed the court that ₹8 lakh from the defrauded amount had been directly credited to the bank account of a firm in which the accused is a partner. He argued that the accused's custodial interrogation was essential to uncover the money trail and identify others involved in the cyber fraud.
The prosecution further submitted that an examination of the firm's bank records revealed transactions worth nearly ₹79 lakh within just 17 days, between February 2 and February 18. Investigators told the court that questioning the accused was necessary to verify these financial transactions and determine his role in the alleged scam.
After considering the submissions from both sides, the court ruled that the investigation was at a crucial stage and rejected the anticipatory bail application, allowing the police to continue their probe into the cyber fraud.
