Form No.HCJD/C-121
ORDER SHEET
IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Criminal. Misc. No.13060-B of 2015
ADNAN HAFEEZ
Sr. No. of
order/
proceeding
Date of
order/
proceeding
Versus.
THE STATE & another.
Order with signature of Judge, and that of parties or
counsel, where necessary.
20.10.2015 Mian Shehzad Hassan, Advocate for the
petitioner.
Mr. Sameer Khosa, Advocate for the
respondent No.2.
Syed Akmal Hussain Shah, Standing Counsel
along with Sami-ur-Rehman Khan, A.D FIA.
Adnan Hafeez, petitioner seeks his bail after arrest in
case FIR No.85/2015 dated:11.09.2015, offence under Sections
36/37 ETO 2002, read with Sections 420/109 PPC, registered at
Police Station Cyber Crime Circle/FIA, Lahore.
2.
The role attributed to the petitioner according to the FIR
is that he along with his co-accused used to hack the login I.D’s
of different travel agencies and fraudulently issue air tickets.
3.
Arguments heard. Record perused.
4.
The petitioner is nominated in the FIR with a specific
role. The offence is of a serious nature and depicts a mind
boggling scam of an international level, which if not curbed
and dealt with an iron hand, could have serious repercussions.
According to the FIA, the offence committed is the first of its
kind in the country.
5.
To understand the offence, it is pertinent to briefly
explain the facts of the case. Galileo Company is a United
Kingdom based company, which is a provider of a software to
travel agencies, through which it is possible for sale/purchase
of air tickets via internet. Travel Port is the local company,
which is the sole distributor of this international software.
Local travel agents purchase this unique software from Travel
Crl. Misc. No.13060-B of 2015
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Port and the technical expert of Travel Port installs this
software for its clients and then provides them with a specific
SSL I.D, after which connects them with the main server of
Galileo in the United Kingdom.
6.
The petitioner is a technical expert of this software and
was an ex-employee of Travel Port. He used to install this
software for different travel agencies, for which he used his
laptops and several I.Ds of different travel agencies were saved
on his laptops.
7.
The complainant submitted a complaint with the FIA
that the login I.D of his travel agency was hacked and
fraudulently international air tickets were issued.
8.
The Cyber Crime Circle FIA initiated an inquiry and
representatives of Travel Port and Galileo were summoned. Mr.
Coleman Alam of Galileo Company in United Kingdom gave
the computer information, which were connecting to the
Galileo’s main server. On investigation, it was traced out from
where the computers were operating.
9.
The petitioner was apprehended red handed from the
office of Anadeus Pakistan Pvt. Ltd, a travel agency, where he
was working and from his possession, three laptops, mobile
phone and one PTCL EVO Wingle were taken into custody by
the FIA. The said laptops were sent to the Forensic Science
Agency, from where it was proved that multiple SSL I.Ds
assigned to different travel agents by Travel Port/Galileo were
found in the recovered laptops of the petitioner. These SSL I.Ds
can only be used by the authorized travel agents but were
being illegally accessed by the laptops found in possession of
the petitioner.
10.
The prosecution has collected substantive evidence
connecting the petitioner with the commission of the offence.
There is an apprehension that if bail is granted to the petitioner,
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he will tamper with the evidence and even destroy it. The
petitioner, being a technical expert, is the master mind of the
gang, who have been hacking I.Ds of various travel agents. The
lead to the other co-accused will be destroyed if the petitioner
is allowed to get in contact with his co-accused and the hectic
efforts of the FIA in tracing out the culprits of this serious scam
will suffer a serious setback.
11.
It has been held repeatedly by the Hon’ble Supreme
Court of Pakistan that Courts may refuse bail in cases not
falling under the Prohibitory Clause of Section 497 Cr.P.C, if
exceptional circumstances exist. And it will always be the
discretion of the Court to determine whether an accused person
deserves to be granted bail. Being a non-convict, will not in
itself be a ground for grant of bail. Reliance is placed upon
“AFZAAL AHMED v. THE STATE, 2003 SCMR 573” and
“IMTIAZ AHMED and another v. THE STATE, PLD 1997 S.C
545”.
12.
As all business dealings and transactions are done
internationally through the internet, therefore, cyber-crime
cannot be taken lightly and the legislature should consider
enhancing the sentences for such crimes. Reliance is placed
upon “SHAHZAD AHMED v. THE STATE through F.I.A.
Islamabad, 2010 SCMR 1221”.
13.
As reiterated above, this bail petition is dismissed,
having no merit. It is made clear that the above findings are
tentative in nature and shall have no bearing on the trial of the
case.
(Erum Sajad Gull)
Judge
R.I*
Approved for reporting
Judge