HC reserves orders on petition by duo in Amazon related case

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

The Karnataka High Court on Friday reserved its orders on a petition filed by two individuals accused of defrauding e-commerce giant Amazon of over Rs 69 lakh. The accused allegedly used a scheme to make multiple purchases, initiate returns and secure refunds while sending fake products in place of the originals. Justice M Nagaprasanna described the case as involving a “maze of facts” and required careful consideration before concluding the proceedings, as per a report by Bar and Bench. The petitioners, Sourish Bose and Deepanvita Ghosh, sought the quashing of the FIR filed against them and the magistrate’s order to take cognisance of the case. They face charges under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66D of the IT Act.

The duo was implicated in 2017 when an Amazon employee reportedly discovered their fraudulent activities. According to the complaint, Bose would place orders for high-end products, pay through his bank account and have them delivered to Ghosh’s address. Within 24 hours, he would initiate a return, obtain a refund and replace the genuine products with cheaper fakes, returning them in the original packaging. The return addresses, the State told the Court, were sometimes Ghosh's residence or other locations across Bengaluru. As per a report by Bar and Bench, Senior Advocate Hasmath Pasha, representing the accused, argued that his clients were falsely implicated, suggesting that the actual culprit could be an Amazon employee.

He acknowledged, however, that Rs 69 lakh had been credited to Bose’s account. When asked why the money was transferred, Pasha claimed that neither he nor his clients had placed the orders or made the returns and pointed to potential wrongdoing by an Amazon employee. Justice Nagaprasanna, however, suggested that the accused should face trial, stating, “Let them face trial at least,” before reserving the orders in the case.