India, June 18 -- Cyber criminals are "parasites" who take money from innocent investors to dupe them and we have to be very harsh with them, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said.

The observations came from a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice V Mohana, which was hearing a plea filed by a man seeking clubbing of some FIRs lodged against him in different states. "You people (cyber criminals) are parasites and you take money from innocent investors and dupe them. For cyber criminals, we have to be very harsh," the CJI observed. The CJI said victims of such crimes were always pan-India.

"You cheat someone in Tamil Nadu, then you go to Jammu and Kashmir and then to the North-East," the CJI said, adding it would be in the society's...