Mobile hotspot lands garage mechanic in jail in cyber fraud case, gets bail after 3 months

Gujarat High Court has granted regular bail to Banwarilal Yadav, a garage mechanic accused in a ₹3,33,500 cyber fraud case, observing prima facie that he appears to have been implicated merely because a co-accused used his mobile hotspot for the fraudulent activity.

A single-judge bench noted that co-accused Rahul Meena allegedly perpetrated the fraud by using Yadav's mobile hotspot. Beyond this connection, the court observed that there was no evidence suggesting Yadav played any active role in the offence.

"Prima facie, it also does not appear that the dummy message had been sent with the consent of the applicant - accused or that the applicant had any knowledge or had received any benefit out of the entire fraudulent transaction," the court remarked while exercising its discretion for bail.

Considering the limited role attributed to the applicant - accused and the investigation had reached the charge-sheet stage, and his clean criminal record with no prior antecedents, acted as key factors favouring bail.

The court clarified that these observations are preliminary for the purpose of bail and should not influence the final trial.

Yadav, who had been in judicial custody since December 22, 2025, was arrested after investigative trails linked the complainant's "dummy message" to his IP address.

The FIR was registered at the Morbi City 'A' Division Police Station following a complaint that the victim was defrauded of ₹3,33,500 after accessing a suspicious message on his mobile phone.