MUMBAI: A

has refused to grant bail to a waiter arrested for illegally copying data from credit and debit cards of customers and withdrawing huge amounts of money with the help of his accomplices. The accused,

, has worked at various popular city restaurants. The police had told the court that they had recovered two machines that were used to copy data (

) and Rs 1.3 lakh from his house. Tandon has been booked for cheating and forgery and under provisions of the IT Act.

The accused contended that he should be released on bail as the chargesheet in the case has been submitted. But the court observed: “The accused who happens to be well conversant with the manner of copying confidential data is always risked to commit similar offence if set at large. Grant of bail is bound to give him another opportunity to have access to such data and either to misuse or destroy it.”

The accused also submitted that there is no documentary evidence against him. He also claimed that did not have any role in the offences and pinned the blame on the co-accused in the case. He also stated that he had cooperated during the investigation and there was no point in detaining him further.

The prosecution opposed the application for bail, contending that the accused has been instrumental in withdrawing huge amounts on several occasions using the cloned cards. It also argued that the probe into cloning of data of customers of restaurants where the accused had worked is still on.