Jharkhand HC Grants Bail to 25-Year-Old Bihar Youth who has impersonated himself as GST Custom Officer

The Jharkhand High Court heard an anticipatory bail application filed by Akash Sinha (petitioner), a 25-year-old resident of Banka, Bihar. He feared arrest in connection with a cybercrime case registered in Ranchi under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Information Technology Act.

The main story centres on Ritesh Kumar, who pretended to be a GST customs officer and tricked the complainant into believing there was an auction for a Fortuner worth Rs 12.7 lakh. The complainant ended up sending Rs 1.27 lakh. Akash’s lawyer told the court that his neighbour, Anup Kumar, was the one who gave out Akash’s bank account details, and the money ended up there. Akash said he shared his account information just to help out and wasn’t really part of the fraud.

He also pointed out he’d never been in trouble with the law before and wanted to give the money back. He claims he already tried to return the amount, but the complainant asked for more. The State pushed back on granting bail, arguing that the money landed in Akash’s account following Anup Kumar’s instructions.

After weighing everything, the court noticed Akash had no criminal history, and he was ready to make things right. The judges told Akash to surrender to the lower court within two weeks. The lower court would then grant him bail on proper terms.