NEW DELHI: A court has dismissed the bail plea of a man arrested for allegedly being “part of a criminal syndicate involved in duping hapless victims who were frantically looking for life-saving drugs” like Tocilizumab during the “horrible” pandemic. The alleged culprits’ conduct in the case was “inhumane” and “grossly obnoxious”, the court said.
Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana dismissed the bail plea of Rajesh Paswan in whose account Rs 70,000 was allegedly deposited by a complainant for buying Tocilizumab, required for the treatment of Covid-19, but the medicine was not received.
“The alleged recovery of mobile phone bearing no… from the applicant/accused connects him with the alleged syndicate. The culprits in the instant case have not only committed a criminal act, but their conduct is also inhumane and grossly obnoxious. Considering the gravity of offence and the nascent stage of investigation, I do not find any merit in the application at hand. The same is accordingly dismissed,” the judge said in his order.
The complainant, Rajeev Taneja, has alleged that he was in dire need of Tocilizumab for a relative and had found an advertisement having the supplier’s number on a WhatsApp group.
Taneja claimed that he had contacted the person having a fake name, Pankaj Bhadauria, and was offered two vials of the medicine for Rs 70,0000. Taneja claimed to have deposited the amount in two bank accounts, but allegedly neither received the medicine nor got a refund.
Additional public prosecutor Irfan Ahmed, appearing for police, opposed the bail plea and said Paswan and his associates were allegedly involved in cheating gullible citizens during the prevailing pandemic situation to earn easy and quick money.
Ahmed further submitted that eight mobile phones, including one tablet, bank documents and a note book having customers’ details had been recovered and Paswan was allegedly involved in 12 other criminal cases of similar nature. If he is granted bail, there is every likelihood that he would jump the bail, the public prosecutor claimed.
Advocate S K Gautam, appearing for Paswan, claimed that the reported amount didn’t belong to the accused and the co-accused in the case had borrowed his account only to receive the payment. Gautam further claimed that the accused had been falsely implicated.
The court also dismissed the bail plea of Siddhant Kashyap, arrested for allegedly cheating multiple people in the name of supplying oxygen cylinders during the pandemic in the national capital. The public prosecutor submitted that Kashyap was also a life convict in a murder case in Goa.
While dismissing the bail plea of Kashyap, the court said the allegations against him were serious in nature.
