‘Cannot escape criminal liability if bank account given to fraudsters for crimes’: Mumbai court rejects bail plea in cyber fraud case

The complainant, in his bail plea before the Mumbai special court, said that he was himself a victim of fraud, as the fraudsters had coerced him into opening a bank account.

The court ruled that allowing one's bank account to be used for criminal activities incurs criminal liability. (Source: File)

Observing that everyone must be aware not to permit the use of their bank accounts for criminal activities, a special court in Mumbai rejected the bail application of a man arrested in a cyber fraud case. The court said that persons who permit their accounts for such transactions cannot escape criminal liability.

The special court Thursday rejected the bail application of Rahul Gawali, 41, who is the director of a firm whose bank account was used for a Rs 5 lakh transaction in a stock market cyber fraud case. The complainant lost Rs 7.31 crore in the fraud after he was added to a WhatsApp group for stock market transactions, where members pretended to be a multinational bank’s securities staff. Gawali was arrested in July after the police alleged that a firm named Rahsa Beez Solution’s bank account was used for one of the transactions by the fraudsters.

Gawali, in his bail plea, said that he was himself a victim of fraud as the fraudsters had coerced him into opening a bank account under the guise of providing him with some services. The police said that no such complaint was filed by Gawali and alleged that he had colluded with the main accused knowingly.

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“There is no explanation from the applicant/accused as to why he allowed other persons to operate his bank account. This fact clearly shows involvement of the present applicant/ accused in serious economic offences… It is crystal clear from the record that the accused has permitted co-accused to use his bank account to commit fraud and to dupe the amounts of innocent persons,” Special Judge A V Gujarathi said in the order.

“Everybody must be aware that he or she should not permit the other person to misuse his or her bank account for… criminal activities. After permitting to use his or her account for criminal activities, he or she cannot escape from the criminal liability,” the court added.

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