The high court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to industrialist Pawan Ruia and two of his family members in connection with a case for allegedly parking proceeds of various online scams across the country in their bank accounts.
The court of Justice Uday Kumar has accepted the appeal submitted by Pawan Ruia, his son Raghav, and his daughter Pallavi.
A lower court had issued an arrest warrant against them on December 22.
While objecting to the prayer for anticipatory bail, the prosecution said that the police wanted to take them into custody for further investigation.
“The fraud could end up amounting to ₹700-₹800 crore. We want to take them into custody. Direct fraudulent transactions were found to have been made into their bank accounts,” said the prosecution’s lawyer.
Ruia’s lawyer said that his client was a well-known industrialist and ran legal businesses. He added that his client would cooperate with the police in the investigation.
The high court allowed the prayer and ordered Ruia and his children to deposit their passports before the lower court.
Bengal police’s cybercrime wing has drawn up an FIR against the industrialist and his family members over their alleged cybercrime links
The police have initiated a suo motu case based on their probe into cybercrime cases whose proceeds — amounting to ₹315 crore — were said to have been traced to bank accounts of shell companies and individuals connected to the Ruia family, police sources said.
According to the National Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), 1,379 complaints were registered against the accounts of the shell companies as of October 31. The police said over a hundred of these complaints were from Bengal.
A Delhi resident already in Bengal police custody has emerged as a key figure in the ₹315-crore cyber fraud
case .
Police said Rahul Verma, 27, is “very close” to the Ruias and played a “crucial role” in the alleged money laundering operation, which involved converting approximately ₹170 crore into cryptocurrency.