New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) A court here on Wednesday denied anticipatory bail to a man accused of duping people by collecting funds in the name of Government of India and the PM-KUSUM scheme.

Special Judge Gagandeep Singh denied relief to Sonu, a resident of Nalanda district in Bihar, while directing the CBI to give him an advance five-day notice in case it decides to arrest him.

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"At this stage, there appears to be no apprehension of arrest... In these circumstances, the application in hand is disposed of with directions that during the investigation in case the CBI reaches to the conclusion of arresting the accused/applicant herein, an advance notice of five days shall be issued to him," the judge said.

The judge further directed the accused to join the investigation and cooperate with the probe as and when required by the investigating officer.

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The CBI opposed the application, claiming that the accused was the mastermind of the entire operation and had refused to join the investigation.

According to the prosecution, the accused, along with others, had created two fake domains to dupe people by collecting funds in the name of Government of India in relation to 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan' (PM-KUSUM Yojana).

The fraudsters, by creating fake websites/programmes, have cheated victims from across the country in the name of Government of India and the PM-KUSUM scheme, the CBI claimed.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)