"Act Posed Serious Threat To National Security": Allahabad HC Denies Bail To Man Accused Of Operating Illegal International Telecom Setup

The Allahabad High Court on Friday denied bail to a man accused of operating an illegal international call set up and who was terminating foreign calls in India by bypassing the legal international and national gateway.

Stressing that the activities cannot be termed anything less than an organized crime, the Bench of Justice Samit Gopal observed that the said act was an act by which there was a serious threat to national security.

The matter in brief

As per the FIR, a joint raid was conducted at a premise in NOIDA by the Department of Telecom, UP ATS, and UP Police, wherein huge amount of electronic instruments and gadgets were recovered which was in working condition.

Allegedly, the whole setup was in a working condition which was instrumental in illegally routing calls from foreign countries to India through the internet by which the actual calling number was not displayed

It has been alleged that the foreign callers in such calls remained unknown due to the display of Indian CLI (command-line interface) in place of the original and actual CLI and routing was internet-based.

It made it very difficult for the law enforcement agencies of the country to monitor and to trace any suspicious call involved in illegal activities and anti-national activity and thus serious threat to the national security was there due to the same.

It was alleged that approximately Rs.45 Lacs was the loss to the Government exchequer by the act of the accused by bypassing the legal international gateways and the accused gained an advantage for themselves dishonestly through fraudulent means.

Lastly, it was argued that the setup was posing a serious threat to the country and the law enforcement agencies were unable to perform their work properly due to the working of the setup.

Perusing the facts of the case, the Court observed:

"The said act was an act by which there was a serious threat to national security. Certain other appliances and instruments were recovered which were awaiting to be installed.The activities cannot be termed anything less than an organized crime."

Thus, the Court denied him bail.

Case title - Karam Allahi V. State of U.P

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