From cheating case to hoax bomb plot: How Noida astrologer’s 2023 arrest spiraled into a conspiracy

To exact revenge over his previous arrest, Noida Police said Kumar allegedly sent a fake threat message in Firoz’s name to the official WhatsApp number of the Mumbai Traffic Police on Friday. The message claimed that 34 “human bombs” carrying “400 kg of RDX” had been planted in 34 vehicles for a blast that would “shake the entire city”.

As per the FIR lodged at Bihar’s Kotwali police station on June 9, 2023, Firoz — a Patna-based businessman — had claimed that “in May 2022, one person, namely Ashwini Kumar Supra, called him up and introduced himself as an Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer”.

The complainant said he had told the caller about his financial difficulties. Kumar then told him he’d help him get a loan from a bank using his “IB reference”.

Over the next one-and-a-half years, Firoz alleged, he transferred more than Rs 15 lakh to two bank accounts provided by Ashwani — one in Delhi and another in Noida — but never received any loan.

Firoz then lodged a complaint, and police filed a cheating and impersonation case under IPC sections 406, 418, 419 and 420. Subsequently, Kumar was arrested and sent to judicial custody on June 12, 2023.

He moved the District and Sessions Court, Patna Sadar, for bail. The case was transferred on August 7, 2023, to the court of Additional Sessions Judge (10th), Kumar Dhirendra Rajajee. The petition was heard on multiple dates across August and September.

On September 12, 2023, Judge Rajajee had rejected the bail plea.

In his written order, the judge noted that bank statements in the case diary showed about Rs 8 lakh had been deposited into the accused’s accounts while only about Rs 50,000 had been returned. The order also recorded documents filed by Kumar, which showed that Firoz had described two earlier transfers — Rs 3.6 lakh on May 10, 2022, and Rs 1.37 lakh on May 18, 2022 — as gifts, even referring to him (Kumar) as “his best friend who has helped him many times”.

The defence had also argued that Kumar and Firoz “have a business relationship”. The judge, however, had disposed of the bail request, concluding that the allegations were serious and not fully explained.

Kumar then approached the Patna High Court by filing a petition on October 10, 2023. The High Court granted him bail on March 20, 2024, on furnishing bail bonds of Rs 10,000 with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of CJM, Patna.

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