Bail plea of Canadian nationals involved in ATM fraud rejected

The Madras High Court has declined to grant bail to three Canadian nationals, allegedly involved in several cases of ATM fraud here, and directed a local court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis without adjournments and bring it to a logical conclusion, preferably in three months.

Justice S Vaidyanathan, who heard the criminal original petitions by Sugananthan, Muralidharan and Prakash, declined bail to the trio and said their intention seemed to be to escape from the country.

The petitioners, along with three others, had allegedly attempted to withdraw money using fake ATM cards at the Canara Bank inside the domestic airport at Chennai and several ATMs in the city in 2013.

They were caught at the airport on May 29, 2013 while trying to withdraw money from an ATM and booked under various sections of IPC and Information Technology Act, 2013.

The HC had earlier granted bail to the petitioners and they had travelled to West Bengal on August 19, 2014, where they were arrested again and booked under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act and remanded to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the Cyber Crime Police, Chennai, had issued a lookout circular against the trio and moved the Madras High Court for cancelling their bail, following which a team was despatched to that state.

The trio were brought back here and lodged in Puzhal Central Prison.

When their bail plea came up on June 9 this year, the prosecution argued that since the petitioners were foreign nationals, they may leave India any time.

The judge also noted that they had supressed the fact that a criminal case was pending against them in Chennai during a hearing in a lower court at Bangaon in West Bengal.

Moreover, the trio had also been caught while trying to withdraw money from an ATM.

Dismissing the petition, the judge noted that serious allegations have been made with regard to ATM fraud and the HC expects the trial court to take up the case and bring it to a logical conclusion, preferably within three months.