New Delhi [India], January 24 : While dismissing the bail plea of a man accused in a human trafficking case, a CBI Court noted that circumstances clearly indicate that the accused was actively participating with other co-accused persons for sending the complainant to Thailand and thereafter illegally transporting him to Laos.
Special CBI judge Shailender Malik on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of Sahil and said, "Therefore there are certainly serious allegations against the accused, particularly when the applicant/accused was also arrested by NIA in a similar case of human trafficking with other allegations. Therefore at this stage, no case is made out for a grant of bail. Application accordingly stands dismissed."
The CBI registered the FIR on the basis of information regarding an international network of human traffickers, involved in trafficking Indian nationals to South East Asian Countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar etc.
The alleged modus operandi adopted was that any victim would first be offered a lucrative job in a country like Thailand, Dubai, etc. and when the victim reached the predestined country, victims would be further illegally trafficked/transported to those South East Asian countries and they are forced to work as cybercriminals under the threat of Chinese controlled cyber crime centres.
It is stated that the victim Saddam Ibrahim Sheikh was contacted by accused Akhil alias Ashish and one Sunny, who are employees of Ali International Services and were offered a job in Thailand as a computer operator in a casino.
It is alleged that on January 28, 2024 victim Saddam Ibrahim Sheikh visited the office of Ali International Services where accused Sahil took the original passport of the complainant.
As per the complainant, he made a payment of the total amount of Rs 1.40 lakh to accused Sahil as well as Ashish in five instalments. All the payments were deliberately taken in cash. Out of that amount, the first instalment of Rs 15,000 was handed over to accused Sahil.
Counsel for the accused submitted that he had no role from beginning to end in the entire alleged human trafficking. There is no evidence at all regarding receiving Rs 15,000 by the applicant/accused in cash from the complainant.
It was further submitted that one of the allegations made in the charge sheet is that the applicant/accused was a telecaller and partner in the firm Ali International. The documents attached to the charge sheet clearly show that said firm was a proprietorship firm of Manjoor Alam.
It was stated that the accused never received any money and never facilitated the complainant in any manner, in his immigration to Thailand or alleged trafficking.
The CBI opposed the bail application and argued that it came in the investigation that it is the applicant/accused who provided the UPI scanner/links of Babita and Heena to the victim for depositing of Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively.
It is the applicant/accused who asked the complainant to deposit Rs 35,000 by UPI in the account of Steppe Travel Pvt. Ltd, the CBI said.