Mumbai: Police cannot seek to add additional sections and extension of judicial custody by a mere letter to the judge without submitting remand papers and bringing the new sections to the notice of the accused, observed the Bombay High Court while granting bail to four persons accused in an alleged cryptocurrency fraud.
Justice SG Mehare, sitting at the Aurangabad bench of the HC, said that the accused have to be given an opportunity to contest the additional charges brought against them. “In the absence of submitting the remand papers without knowledge of the accused, the prosecution cannot by a bare letter addressed to the Court, seek the extension of remand more than the period prescribed under Section 167 of the Cr.P.C. The extension of remand, particularly after adding new sections constituting the serious offence, is not a bare formality,” said the court. It further said that the court has to hear both sides and pass an order while extending the detention of the accused for a period more than prescribed under the law.
How the Cryptocurrency fraud unfolded
According to the complainant, one Kiran Kharat and Deepti Kharat induced him to invest money in global digital cryptocurrency for attractive returns. Global digital cryptocurrency was under their control and was likely to be introduced in December 2022. The complainant claimed that he invested a huge amount but the cryptocurrency’s price was far lower than expected as assured by the Kharat couple.
The FIR was registered against four persons – Irfan Syed, Amod Mehtar, Venkatesh Bhoi, and Ramesh Uttekar – under sections 420, 120-B, 504, and 506 of the IPC and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, 2002. They were arrested on February 3, 2023 and remanded to police custody till February 17, 2023 and judicial custody thereafter. Their bail applications were rejected on April 4, 2023, and the remand was extended regularly after every 15 days.
Sections added by police
However, on March 27, 2023 the police wrote a letter to the Sessions Judge stating that they have added sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) against the four persons. Four days later, the investigating officer wrote a letter to the Additional Sessions Judge seeking extension of 30 days to submit the chargesheet, which was granted.
As per the law, judicial custody can be extended upto 90 days in cases relating to offence punishable with death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for 10 years. In other cases, the judicial custody can be extended up to 60 days. If the chargesheet is not filed within this period, the accused is entitled to default bail.
Fresh remand papers required by judiciary
In the present case, the sections applied subsequently is punishable with up to 10 years imprisonment. The high court questioned whether a mere letter to the judge adding the sections against the accused results in automatic extension of judicial custody up to 90 days. Although the prosecution argued that it can be done, the HC said that without fresh remand papers, the custody cannot be extended.
The court noted that in the present case the chargesheet was not filed within 60 days. Thus, the magistrate extending the judicial custody became functus officio (an officer or agency whose mandate has expired) and his power to extend the remand ceased as soon as the prescribed period of filing the chargesheet got over, the court held.
