<p>The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash proceedings in a cybercrime of hacking the State Bank of India (SBI) website and obtaining OTPs to pretend transfers of loan amount.</p>.<p>“It (complaint) narrates, step-by-step, how a fictitious banking edifice was erected to lull the complainant into a false sense of security; how a counterfeit digital infrastructure masquerading, as the State Bank of India was employed; and how the complainant was induced to part with enormous sums of money,” Justice M Nagaprasanna said while dismissing the petitions filed by the accused in the crime registered by the Bengaluru police.</p>.<p>The complainant in the case is Vinayak Kabadi, a businessman from Gadag. The petitioner accused are K Balajee alias Balaji Sha, Silmia alias Silmya Fathima, both from Tamil Nadu, Seba Jeevan Sebaratnam, a native of Carshalton, Surrey, UK, currently residing in Bengaluru, and Vinay Kumar Agarwal, Bengaluru.</p>.<p>The prosecution case is that the accused had created a fake SBI website, generated OTP to the mobile of the complainant to make him believe that his account has been credited with Rs 227 crore, the loan that he needed to set up a sugar factory. Believing that the loan amount had been credited, the complainant transferred Rs 7.15 crore to the account of the accused as commission, which is the only transfer in the case at hand.</p>.Supreme Court notice to Centre, CBI on plea of ex-banker duped of Rs 23 crore in 'digital arrest'.<p>The petitioners contended that since the crime is registered for recovery of Rs 7.15 crore, the issue is civil in nature. It was further submitted that the complaint is registered in July 2022 for the transaction done in February 2018.</p>.<p>After perusing the investigation material, the court noted that the accused had created a website www.sbicf.co.in which was never in existence and generated OTP to the mobile of the complainant or even WhatsApp messages. “The case at hand is akin to a crime thriller or a crime pot boiler,” Justice Nagaprasanna observed, further stating, “It is a clear case where all the accused have come together to hatch a conspiracy to cheat the complainant.”</p>.<p class="bodytext">The court further said, “At this juncture, this Court is not called upon to weigh evidence or pronounce upon guilt, the only question is, whether materials disclose prima facie case, warranting continuation of proceedings. On a careful consideration as noticed hereinabove, the answer is unmistakably in the affirmative. To quash the proceedings at this stage would be to smother a serious prosecution in its infancy and to grant immunity, where proceedings cry out for a full-blown <br />trial.”</p>
<p>The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash proceedings in a cybercrime of hacking the State Bank of India (SBI) website and obtaining OTPs to pretend transfers of loan amount.</p>.<p>“It (complaint) narrates, step-by-step, how a fictitious banking edifice was erected to lull the complainant into a false sense of security; how a counterfeit digital infrastructure masquerading, as the State Bank of India was employed; and how the complainant was induced to part with enormous sums of money,” Justice M Nagaprasanna said while dismissing the petitions filed by the accused in the crime registered by the Bengaluru police.</p>.<p>The complainant in the case is Vinayak Kabadi, a businessman from Gadag. The petitioner accused are K Balajee alias Balaji Sha, Silmia alias Silmya Fathima, both from Tamil Nadu, Seba Jeevan Sebaratnam, a native of Carshalton, Surrey, UK, currently residing in Bengaluru, and Vinay Kumar Agarwal, Bengaluru.</p>.<p>The prosecution case is that the accused had created a fake SBI website, generated OTP to the mobile of the complainant to make him believe that his account has been credited with Rs 227 crore, the loan that he needed to set up a sugar factory. Believing that the loan amount had been credited, the complainant transferred Rs 7.15 crore to the account of the accused as commission, which is the only transfer in the case at hand.</p>.Supreme Court notice to Centre, CBI on plea of ex-banker duped of Rs 23 crore in 'digital arrest'.<p>The petitioners contended that since the crime is registered for recovery of Rs 7.15 crore, the issue is civil in nature. It was further submitted that the complaint is registered in July 2022 for the transaction done in February 2018.</p>.<p>After perusing the investigation material, the court noted that the accused had created a website www.sbicf.co.in which was never in existence and generated OTP to the mobile of the complainant or even WhatsApp messages. “The case at hand is akin to a crime thriller or a crime pot boiler,” Justice Nagaprasanna observed, further stating, “It is a clear case where all the accused have come together to hatch a conspiracy to cheat the complainant.”</p>.<p class="bodytext">The court further said, “At this juncture, this Court is not called upon to weigh evidence or pronounce upon guilt, the only question is, whether materials disclose prima facie case, warranting continuation of proceedings. On a careful consideration as noticed hereinabove, the answer is unmistakably in the affirmative. To quash the proceedings at this stage would be to smother a serious prosecution in its infancy and to grant immunity, where proceedings cry out for a full-blown <br />trial.”</p>
