Patna High Court
Harshit KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISMISSED
- Bench
- ASHOK KUMAR PANDEY
Holding
The court held that bail must be denied at this stage due to the gravity of the alleged offences and procedural concerns.
Summary
Harshit Kumar was arrested on 20 July 2025 for allegedly operating an illegal SIM box that contained 1,400 SIM cards and was used for massive call traffic and cyber fraud, violating sections of the Bihar Negotiable Instruments Act, the Telecommunication Act and the Information Technology Act. The prosecution presented evidence of recovered SIM boxes, call records, and 25 complaints lodged against the numbers. The petitioner claimed innocence, alleging political victimisation, duress in signing statements, and procedural lapses such as delay in production before a magistrate. The court examined the seriousness of the offences, the volume of fraud, and the lack of a clear exonerating explanation. It concluded that bail could not be granted at this stage, directing the petitioner to re‑apply after six months, and ordered a show‑cause notice for the delay in magistrate production. The bail application was therefore rejected.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioner is entitled to bail despite the alleged large‑scale SIM box fraud and multiple offences under the Bihar Negotiable Instruments Act, Telecommunication Act and IT Act.
- Whether the delay in producing the petitioner before a magistrate within 24 hours violates his fundamental rights and affects bail eligibility.
- Whether precedents granting bail in similar SIM box cases are applicable to the present facts.
Legislation cited
- Bihar Negotiable Instruments Act — s. 111, 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2), 3(5), 61(2)
- Information Technology Act — s. 66, 66(C), 66(D), 72
Subjects
- bail
- SIM box fraud
- cyber crime
- telecom fraud
- interconnect bypass
- illegal SIM
- Information Technology Act
- Telecommunication Act
- criminal procedure
- political victimisation
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.90071 of 2025
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-16 Year-2025 Thana- ECONOMIC OFFENCES, BIHAR
District- Patna
======================================================
Harshit Kumar S/o Vikash Chandra Mishra R/o Ward no 6, Gauspur, Police
Station- Karjain, District- Supaul
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar
2. The Deputy Superintendent of Police-cum-Station House Officer, Economic,
Economic Offence Unit, Bihar, Patna
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. N.K. Agrawal, Sr. Advocate
Mr. Mithilesh Prasad Sharma, Advocate
Mr. Kumar Rajdeep, Advocate
Mr. Saroj Kumar Choudhary, Advocate
Mr. Shivendu Shekhar, Advocate
For the State : Mr. Sanjay Kumar Pandey, APP
For the EOU : Mr. V.N.P. Sinha, Sr. Advocate
Mr. Vijay Anand, Advocate
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHOK KUMAR PANDEY
CAV ORDER
9 17-04-2026 Heard learned Senior counsel for the petitioner,
learned APP for the State and learned Senior counsel for the
EOU.
2. The petitioner has prayed for bail in connection
with Economic Offence Case No.16 of 2025 registered for the
offence punishable under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338,
340(2), 111, 61(2) & 3(5) of the BNS, under Sections 42(1),
42(2), 42(3) & 42(6) of the Tele Communication Act and under
Sections 66, 66(C), 66(D) and 72 of the I.T. Act.
3. The case of the prosecution, in short, is that Deputy
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.90071 of 2025(9) dt.17-04-2026
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S.P., Economic Offence Unit, Bihar, Patna got a letter dated
25.06.2025 issued by Additional Director General, Telecom
Department, Telephone Bhawan, R.Block, Patna and was
informed with respect to the complaint of cyber crime lodged by
the public on Sanchar Sathi Portal. It was found on analysis in
detail of Tower Dump Data, IMFI tracking and calling that in
Gauspur village of Supaul District, suspected cyber crime is
going on through illegal SIM box. It was also informed that
illegal SIM box set up is being used in cyber fraud, where in
place of 50, 231 suspect mobile numbers has been identified and
all numbers have been issued by the POS of Vaishali District,
details mentioned in the FIR. To verify regarding information of
above offence, an SIT was constituted comprising different
Officers of EOU, Patna to investigate the alleged cyber offence.
The raiding team arrived at the house of Harshit Kumar
(petitioner) and conducted raid in presence of witnesses and
recovered different items and prepared seizure list and the
petitioner was arrest for alleged offence of keeping SIM box
illegally, converting the BOIP calls into local calls to cause
revenue loss to the Government, to keep fake SIMs and for
allegedly cyber crime.
4. Learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.90071 of 2025(9) dt.17-04-2026
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petitioner has submitted that petitioner is innocent and has
committed no offence and has been falsely implicated in this
case. As per record, the petitioner was arrested on 20.07.2025 at
about 10:05 hrs but produced before the learned trial court on
22.07.2025 and there is no explanation in the FIR with regard to
the delay. It has further been submitted that the signature, under
threat and duress, was taken on some blank paper and converted
the same into confessional statement of the petitioner. The
petitioner has started his career as politician and he is Youth
Secretary of Janta Dal United Youth Wing, Bihar and with an
intention to ruin his career, his name has been deliberately
dragged and implicated because of political rivalry. It has
further been submitted that the petitioner is himself victim in
this case who has been trapped by unknown persons, whose ID
displayed in the facebook and nothing incriminating recovered
from the possession of the petitioner which connects in the
alleged cyber crime. Learned Senior counsel for the petitioner
has also relied on the order of learned Co-ordinate Bench passed
in Cr. Misc. Nos. 3820 of 2026 and 692 of 2026 and order of
this court in Cr. Misc No. 80160 of 2025.
5. Countering this, learned Senior counsel for the
EOU has vehemently opposed the bail and has submitted that
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from perusal of the FIR it will transpire that from possession of
this petitioner a SIM box setup was recovered containing 231
SIMs and out of these 231 SIMs, from 144 mobile numbers,
between 30.06.2025 to 02.07.2025 altogether 51,000 calls have
been made in different parts of the country. It has further been
submitted that from one of the numbers which was recovered
from the possession of the petitioner was used in cyber fraud. It
has further been disclosed that in the counter affidavit of the
EOU that altogether 25 complaints are registered against the
SIMs which was recovered from the petitioner as per NCRP
portal.
6. It is worth noting that a SIM box is a physical
device that can hold anywhere from dozens to hundreds of SIM
cards simultaneously. It connects these SIM cards to a cellular
network and routes their traffic through the internet using Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Misuse of SIM boxes have been
called SIM boxes fraud or interconnect bypass fraud which is a
major issue for telecom industry. Common methods of misuse
included :-
(i) Bypassing international Charges :
(ii) Bulk Phishing & Smishing :
(iii) Caller ID Spoofing :
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(iv) National Security Threats :
(v) Service Degradation :
7. The manner in which SIM Box scam works is as
follows :-
The scam typically starts when criminals acquire thousands
of SIM cards mainly due to fake identities. These SIMs are
loaded into SIM Boxes connected to servers and dongles.
The system then sends out lakhs of SMS messages daily,
tricking victims into clicking malicious links or sharing
sensitive banking details. The CBI investigation revealed
that even foreign cyber criminals were using these services
to cheat Indian citizens, making the scam a transitional
threat.
8. The order of the learned Co-ordinate Bench which
is relied upon by the learned Senior counsel for the petitioner is
of no help to him as the case of the petitioners who were granted
bail by learned Co-ordinate Bench is different from this
petitioner. Learned Senior counsel for the petitioner has also
relied on an order of this Court passed in Cr. Misc. No. 80160 of
2025 wherein this Court has granted bail to the petitioner where
from an accused a SIM box was recovered having 256 SIMs.
This order is also of no avail to the petitioner as there was no
allegation of cheating anybody against the said petitioner.
9. In this case, altogether 1400 SIMs in a SIM box
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have been recovered from the possession of the petitioner and
altogether 25 complaints are there against the mobile numbers
which were recovered from the said SIM box as per NCRP
portal. Cyber crime is a menace to the society.
10. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and
considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am not
inclined to grant bail to the petitioner at this stage, however, the
petitioner may renew his prayer for bail after six months, if the
trial is not concluded.
11. Accordingly, the present bail application stands
rejected.
12. As far as producing the petitioner before
Magistrate after 24 hours is concerned, in this regard, Office is
directed to issue show cause to the Concerned Officials as it is
the fundamental right of the petitioner to be produced before a
Magistrate within 24 hours of arrest.
(Ashok Kumar Pandey, J)
durgesh/-
AFR/NAFR NAFR
CAV DATE 19.03.2026
Uploading Date 17.04.2026
Transmission Date 17.04.2026
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