US Dollar Scam: Delhi Court Extends Custody For Key Accused, Adds New Remand

The Rouse Avenue court on Wednesday extended the CBI custody of the two accused, Dhairya and Dhruv Khattar, for another three days. The court also remanded one of the accused, Tushar Arora, to judicial custody.

The Khattar brothers have been arrested for allegedly defrauding US citizens of 15 million USD. Judicial Magistrate First Class Nishant Garg extended their CBI custody until August 3, while Arora was remanded to judicial custody.

During the hearing, the CBI sought further remand, stating that the Khattar brothers had disclosed the name of another person who was not found at their address. The CBI also argued that the accused had not fully revealed details about the operation of an illegal call center, necessitating additional custody to continue the investigation.

Previously, on Saturday, the court had remanded three other accused to four days in custody. Additionally, 40 other individuals were remanded to judicial custody until August 9. The bail applications of 33 accused have been dismissed by the court.

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The CBI had produced 43 accused, including 4 women, in the Rouse Avenue Court after a day of judicial custody. They were arrested on July 25 under Operation Chakra, following an FIR based on provided information.

The CBI claimed that the custody of the accused is necessary to uncover the full extent of the conspiracy and identify the mastermind. The accused are alleged to have defrauded US citizens of 15 million USD between November 2022 and April 2024 by running a call center in Gurugram. One victim was reportedly defrauded of 6.5 million USD.

According to the CBI FIR, the operation involved cheating US residents from India, with banned software found at the call center. The case also involves US authorities and the FBI. The CBI noted that three mobile phones belonging to Dhairya Khattar and a diary showing US dollar transactions were discovered in one of the cars.

The CBI prosecutor stated that 15 million USD was involved, and a voice recording of the Khattar brothers discussing their methods with US individuals was found. The CBI also sought custody of Tushar Arora, a Cloud support engineer, to further investigate the conspiracy.

The defense counsel opposed the application for custody, arguing that the CBI had conducted a raid on July 24 and that the accused were not produced before the magistrate until July 26. They contended that the accused were effectively in custody from July 24 and had not been provided with a copy of the remand application or FIR, nor informed of the grounds for arrest.

In response, the CBI counsel stated that the grounds for arrest were communicated to the accused, and the search was conducted with a warrant, running for hours only after the arrest. They maintained there was no grudge against the accused.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Newsx staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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