New Delhi, Aug 12 A Delhi court has granted bail to a woman accused of laundering money obtained through a cyber fraud, saying the investigation against her was complete and there was no reasonable apprehension that she would tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.
Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar granted regular bail to Soniya Yadav in the case registered by a cyber police station.
In the order dated August 10, the court said, “The investigation against the accused is complete and she has no control or authority over the prosecution witnesses. There appears to be no reasonable apprehension of tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses.
“The court is of the considered view that no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping the accused in custody.”
According to the prosecution, the case stemmed from a complaint lodged by a man who was allegedly duped of Rs 2.49 lakh by a woman who contacted him via Facebook and identified herself as ‘Maria Ortize’.
The complainant was later told by a person posing as a Customs officer that the woman had been detained with foreign currency and required money for her release and currency conversion. He allegedly transferred Rs 2.49 lakh after being promised substantial profits.
The investigation revealed that the money was transferred to an account held by Rajni Yadav. The prosecution alleged that Rajni's account was being used as a mule account and that Soniya Yadav was actively involved in laundering the cheated money.
The defence argued that the accused had been falsely implicated as the cheated amount was credited to her sister's account and only a nominal amount was transferred to her own account.
It also submitted that she was the sole breadwinner of the family and was responsible for her elderly mother and younger brother.
While granting bail, the court noted that the accused had no previous criminal record and had been in custody for around two months.
It also observed that the investigation was complete and the chargesheet was likely to be filed within two days.
The court said the prosecution's case showed that the accused's account was not used to route the cheated amount and had received only Rs 7,500 from the account of her sister, a co-accused in the case, through multiple small transactions.
Observing that no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping her in custody, the court granted Soniya Yadav bail on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with one surety of the like amount.
