Ainan Ahamed And Others vs State Of H.P

Jyotsna Rewal Dua, J

All these petitions arise out of FIR No.175/2020, dated 15.12.2020, registered under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal

Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, at Police Station Barotiwala, District Solan. The petitioners in all these petitions have

prayed for their enlargement on regular bail. Being inter-connected and arising out of the same FIR, these petitions are taken up together for

adjudication.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and gone through the status report.

Briefly, the facts of the case are that:-

3(i). A complaint was made to the Superintendent of Police, Baddi, by the Registrar, IEC University Kallujhinda, Tehsil Baddi, District Solan, about the

use of fake website domain name www.iecuniversity.org in an illegal and unauthorized manner. Complainant submitted that a company named Ample

Themes illegally created the above website using IEC University logo, which is the clone of official website of IEC University, i.e.

www.iecuniversity.com. It was also stated that in response to the complainant’s objections sent through letter dated 15.11.2019, the above named

company replied that it was only a mock drill and the same would be removed. However, the company did not stop continuing with the illegal acts,

rather the fake website also started showing data of students. The complainant apprehended that the company in question was practising deceit upon

people by selling fake degrees and maligning the reputation of the complainant - Institution. On the basis of this complaint, the FIR was registered on

15.12.2020.

3(ii). Investigation revealed that domain name www.iecuniversity.org was registered through website Godaddy.com on 11.09.2019 on payment. The

payment was made using e-mail tnboschool@gmail.com. On tracking Internet Protocol (IP) address, it was found that Internet Service Provider (ISP)

for the same was Excitel Broadband Private Limited, New Delhi.

3(iii). Further investigation revealed that tnboschool@gmail.com was used by one Bharti (petitioner in Cr.MP(M) No.719 of 2021) of Govindpuri,

Kalkaji, New Delhi, whose user ID was ‘bharti1262’. The police team visited this address. Mohd. Saleem (petitioner in Cr.MP(M) No.718 of

2021) and Bharti were found present at the spot and internet router/modem with MAC address was recovered from them, through which they used

the internet of Excitel Company. Mohd. Saleem revealed that Bharti was his business partner and they had availed the services of Ainan Ahamed

(petitioner in Cr.MP(M) No.705 of 2021) to create fake website of IEC University.

3(iv). Police team visited the residence of Ainan Ahamed at Noida and recovered 376 blank and 5 filled mark-sheets, 270 Holograms of IEC,

Certificates from 78 Universities, cash amount of Rs.2,73,000/-, 165 stamps/seals, six stamp pads, two laptops and one mobile phone from him. During

investigations, Ainan Ahamed, Mohd. Saleem and Bharti statedly disclosed that they had prepared fake website of not only the complainant-IEC

University, but of various other educational institutions and had distributed fake degrees, certificates and mark-sheets in different States throughout the

country. The above three bail petitioners were arrested on 04.02.2021.

3(v). During custodial interrogation, Ainan Ahamed statedly disclosed that he got fake degrees, diplomas and certificates printed through one Amjad

S/o Sh. Haidar, resident of Shaheen Baag, Delhi. He also statedly disclosed that address and logo of IEC University were provided by one Hashnoor.

Later on, it turned out that his real name was Manish Kumar (petitioner in Cr.MP(M) No.764 of 2021), resident of Fazilka, Punjab. Manish Kumar

statedly ran a coaching institute at Fazilka and had disclosed his name as Hashnoor to Ainan Ahamed. Investigation revealed that Manish Kumar was

involved in similar business of selling fake degrees. He was arrested on 08.02.2021 from Fazilka and fake mark-sheets, which he got prepared from

Ainan Ahamed, were recovered from him. Certain other incriminating articles were also recovered from him.

3(vi). During investigations, Ainan Ahamed got recorded his statement under Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act that he ran the fake degree racket

for quite some time. With the help and connivance of other accused persons, he got prepared about 25 fake websites of different universities. Using

these websites and also using SMSs through mobile phone etc., he used to contact small coaching centres located in different States throughout the

country, alluring them for fake degrees and got these fake degrees/mark-sheets printed by Amjad.

3(vii). Money received from the sale of fake mark-sheets and fake degrees was used to be received in the bank account of one Archana Singh,

resident of Noida. As per the status report, investigation revealed transactions running into crores of rupees in the said bank account. All the accused

persons used to do work in lieu of money. Said Archana Singh was arrested on 14.03.2021.

3(viii). During investigations, Mohd. Saleem provided details of 32 fake websites allegedly got prepared by him at the instance of Ainan Ahamed with

help of other accused persons. He also provided the backup data of 19 fake websites, which contained PHP files, student/subject details, screenshots

of posts, e-mail backup and database etc.

3(ix). In view of the fraud and deceitful acts committed by the petitioners in preparing and selling fake and fictitious degrees/mark-sheets of various

educational institutions/universities throughout the country by using various fake websites, the Superintendent of Police, Baddi, District Solan requested

the Inspector General of Police, South, Shimla to handover the further investigation to the State Intelligence Department.

Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that investigation in the matter is already complete. Challan stands presented before the Court of

competent jurisdiction on 01.04.2021, therefore, custodial interrogation of the petitioners is not required.

Whereas, learned Additional Advocate General vehemently opposed the bail petitions. He contended that serious allegations have been levelled

against the petitioners. There is sufficient evidence available on record against them of creating many fictitious domains and 25 fake websites of

different universities and various educational institutions throughout the country. Using these fictitiously created domains and fictitiously created

websites, the petitioners have duped the students as well as sold fake diplomas/degrees/mark-sheets on the domain of these universities and in this

process, the petitioners while maligning the reputation of their universities/educational institutions, have illegally earned crores of rupees. Learned

Additional Advocate General further submitted that the bail petition filed in this Court by the co-accused Archana Singh, being Cr.MP(M) No.641 of

2021, was dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 8.4.2021. He further contended that many persons are still at large. SFSL report is still awaited

and supplementary challan is yet to be prepared and presented before the competent Court of jurisdiction. There is strong apprehension that the

petitioners on being released on bail will influence the prosecution witnesses and will tamper the prosecution evidence.

After going through the documents on record, it appears that the fake degree racket is of an alarming magnitude as the transactions worth crores of

rupees are found to have been made in the bank account of co-accused Archana Singh for her benefit and for benefit of all the bail petitioners. A

racket of this size cannot be a handy work of few. In all probability, a number of coaching centre owners also seem to be involved besides many

middlemen. Considering the fact that the petitioners had created fake domains, fake website of not only the complainant-University, but of numerous

other educational institutions/universities throughout the country and distributed/sold fake certificates of 78 Universities, in my considered opinion, at

this stage, when the petitioners were arrested on 04.02.2021, 08.02.2021 and 14.03.2021, their enlargement on bail is not warranted at this stage.

During hearing, learned Additional Advocate General submitted that the matter is still being investigated from various angles. And that request has

also been made to State Intelligence Department to come into picture for further investigation considering that petitioners had prepared and sold fake

mark-sheets and fake degrees of educational institutions located in different States of the country. Involvement of various others cannot be ruled out

at this stage. Therefore, at this stage, considering the sensitivity and seriousness of the charges levelled against the petitioners as well as carefully

looking the evidence collected by the investigating agency during investigations carried out thus far, release of the petitioners on bail will not be proper

at this stage. Theirs influencing the investigations, prosecution witnesses and prosecution evidence also cannot be ruled out at present.

Accordingly, the instant petitions are dismissed alongwith pending miscellaneous application(s), if any. However, liberty is reserved to the petitioners to

file fresh petitions at an appropriate stage in accordance with law, if so advised.

It is made clear that observations made above are only for the purpose of adjudication of instant bail petitions and shall not be construed as an opinion

on the merits of the matter. Learned Trial Court shall decide the matter without being influenced by any of the observations made hereinabove.