CBI arrested Vij in the cryptocurrency cheating case. Prior to this, he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Nishant Garg remanded Lakshay Vij in judicial custody till November 11. He was produced before the court after 4 days CBI custody.
“Since the investigation is at initial stages, for the purpose of fair and expeditious investigation and to prevent the accused from tampering with the evidence and influencing the witnesses, accused Lakshay Vij is remanded to judicial custody till November 11, 2024,” the order on Monday stated.
An application seeking judicial custody for 14 days was filed by the investigation officer (IO).
The court said that from the investigation carried out so far, it is seen that there exists a transnational racket of cyber criminals whereby vulnerable foreign nationals are defrauded by gaining unauthorized access to their computer systems and inducing them to transfer funds in cryptocurrency. “From the evidence gathered so far, the involvement of accused Lakshay Vij, in conspiracy with other accused persons, is prima facie clear,” the court observed.While seeking Judicial remand, the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) for the CBI submitted that during police custody, accused Lakshay Vij was confronted with incriminating material recovered and seized from other accused persons. He disclosed his association with accused Prafful Gupta and Karan Chugh.
It was also submitted that efforts were made to recover the mobile phone used by accused Lakshay Vij in the commission of the offence but it could not be recovered.
The APP further submitted that the identity and whereabouts of other accused persons is yet to be ascertained.
To prevent the accused from influencing the witnesses and tampering with the evidence, he is to be remanded to judicial custody.
On the other hand, Advocates Prabhav Ralli along with Yuvraj Bansal and Vanya Gupta Counsel for the accused submitted that since the initial arrest was not in accordance with the law, all subsequent proceedings would also fall through.
It was further submitted that since the accused Lakshay Vij is already in judicial custody in the ED case, there is no chance of his influencing the witnesses or tampering with the evidence.
After hearing the submissions, the court said that the production, arrest and remand of the accused have not been challenged to date.
No bail application on behalf of the accused in this case has been filed.
