Ahmedabad, Oct 16 A special CBI court here on Friday granted bail to an accused arrested for allegedly operating a call centre involved in cyber frauds targeting US residents.
Judge R R Bhatt granted bail to Ankit Pandey, arrested last month by the CBI.
As per the FIR registered in Delhi on September 8, Pandey and other accused called US residents posing as officers of various law enforcement agencies of the United States government.
The victims were told that their identities had been used by someone to access child pornography, and they needed to pay a fine or penalty. The victims were then induced to transfer funds or purchase gold and hand it over to couriers.
The gang is suspected to have defrauded US residents of more than USD 7.21 million in total.
Defence lawyer Amit Nair argued that Pandey's IP address was the only thing connecting him to the crime. But an IP address can be used by another person by hacking the WiFi network, the lawyer said.
The accused's laptop and mobile phone had been seized and he had co-operated and visited the CBI office in New Delhi whenever called, the lawyer said.
After hearing the arguments, the court granted bail to Pandey.
