1 2025:CGHC:30598 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRC No. 4313 of 2025 1 - Sahil Gupta S/o Sanjeev Gupta Aged About 21 Years R/o Deviganj Road, In Front Of Maharaja Gali, Ambikapur, Police Station And Tehsil- Ambikapur, District : Surguja (Ambikapur), Chhattisgarh ... Applicant(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through- Station In Charge, Kotwali (Respondent Name Not Mentioned In The Cause Title Of The Annexure A-1), District : Surguja (Ambikapur), Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) (Cause title taken from Case Information System) For Applicant(s) : Mr. Bhupendra Singh, Advocate For Respondent(s)/State : Mr. Suyashdhar Badgaiya, Dy. G.A. Hon'ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal Order on Board 03/07/2025 1. This is the first bail application under Section 483 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 filed by the applicant, who is arrested on 03.02.2025, in connection with Crime No. 38 of 2025, registered at Police Station Kotwali, Ambikapur District Surguja (C.G.), for the offence under Sections 336(3), 338, 61(2) and 340(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Sections 7 and 8 of Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022. VEDPRAKASH DEWANGAN Digitally signed by VEDPRAKASH DEWANGAN Date: 2025.07.08 18:06:21 +0530 2 2. The case of prosecution is that, on 13.01.2025, the police has received a secret information that the co-accused Sudhir Gupta is engaged in playing online gambling in cricket match by fixing a TV setup in his office room. On being raid conducted, in the house of the co-accused Sudhir Gupta, 03 persons were found, who were engaged in playing online gambling having number of ATM cards, passbooks, cheque books, QR stands, mobile phones, register, cash, etc. They disclosed their name Rahul Agrawal @ Vickey, Srikant Agrawal and Rahul Kumar Soni. On being interrogation, they disclosed that they are engaged in playing online gambling along with Sudhir Gupta and the co-accused Rahul Agrawal @ Vickey disclosed from his mobile phone that, he is running the group W52 Daily Hisab, W52 Upar TRF and W52 Withdraw in WhatsApp No. 8519099399. The mobile number of group admin is 9993717857 and the mobile number of group members are 8349963500, 9201707887, 9111293475, 9399522297 and 8770601386 and also disclose that they are playing online gambling with the said mobile numbers. Total 234 ATM cards, 77 SIM cards, 78 cheque books, 73 mobile phones including SIM, 81 passbooks, 08 UPI bar-code scanners, 13 Aadhar cards of various persons, Xerox copies of 04 PAN cards, Xerox copies of 04 Aadhar cards, 07 counterfoils of deposit slips, Laser of online gambling 22 items, TV setup including Wi-Fi setup, furniture and cash of Rs. 1,54,100/- have been seized from the aforesaid 03 accused persons. The co-accused Sudhir Gupta was also arrested and on his memorandum statement, he disclosed the involvement of other 3 accused persons in playing online gambling. It was also came during the investigation that the said WhatsApp group was prepared by Som Gupta, who was the admin and engaged in playing online gambling with other accused persons and when the Som Gupta was interrogated, he disclosed that on the instance of co-accused Sudhir Gupta, he engaged Sourabh Yadav, Sahil Gupta (present applicant) and Aman Kararia in the online gambling and then the present applicant was also interrogated along with others and then he disclosed that they had taken a room on rent at Godhanpur, from where they operating the online gambling through laptops, tabs and 30 mobile phones. They also disclosed that co-accused Sudhir Gupta is paying them the monthly salary of Rs. 40,000/- from forged bank account through PhonePe no. 9131562599. From the litigation, closed connection of all the accused persons were found who directly connected with each other and made transactions. A huge scam of online gambling was detected through their electronic gadgets. The applicant was arrested on 03.02.2025 and charge sheet was filed against the applicant and 09 other co-accused persons. 3. Learned counsel for the applicant would submit that there is no direct evidence against the applicant in the case regarding his involvement, either in conspiracy with other accused persons or engaged in playing online gambling. There is no incriminating material recovered from the mobile phone of the present applicant. Except for the memorandum statement, nothing substantive evidence is available in the charge sheet against the applicant. There is no evidence that he directly connected with co-accused Sudhir Gupta. The present 4 applicant is an employee of Som Gupta and working for him. He is having no connection with any illegal activity or offence of online gambling either for himself or for Som Gupta or Sudhir Gupta. He is nephew of Som Gupta and the salaried employee of him. The material witnesses of memorandum and seizure have been examined before the learned trial Court and they have not supported the prosecution’s case. There is no sufficient material with respect to involvement of the present applicant in the offence in question. He is in jail since 03.02.2025, final adjudication of the case will take its own time. He would also submit that none of the persons have complained about cheating by the applicant. The applicant is a young boy of 21 years and therefore he may be released on bail. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the State opposes the submissions made by learned counsel for the applicant and submitted that from the investigation the name of the present applicant appears and there is sufficient evidence in the charge sheet of his involvement in the offence in question. The accused persons have organized the crime of online gambling through mobile phone by preparing the WhatsApp group and operating the online gambling. Huge number of SIM cards, mobile phones, ATM cards, passbooks, cheque books, bar code scanners, etc. have been seized. He would further submit that from the documents annexed with the bail application, it reflects that the witnesses are being examining in the case and the trial of the case is in advance stage. Therefore, considering the nature of offence and the manner in which they 5 organized the crime of online gambling, the present applicant is not entitled for bail. 5. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the case diary. 6. Considering the submissions made by the parties, considering the material collected during the investigation and the allegation against the present applicant regarding his involvement in online gambling along with other accused persons, memorandum statements of other accused persons and seizure of various mobile phones, ATM cards, passbooks, cheque books, bar code scanners, etc. there is sufficient prima facie evidence in the case, which shows the involvement of the present applicant in the offence in question. Further, considering that the witnesses are being examined in the case and the trial is in advance stage, the gravity of the offence, the manner in which the offence is organized and impact of the alleged offence, I am not inclined to release the applicant on bail. 7. Accordingly, the bail application of present applicant Sahil Gupta is rejected. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) Judge ved