1 2025:CGHC:55970 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRCA No. 1704 of 2025 1 - Ashish Agrawal S/o Vijay Kumar Agrawal Aged About 30 Years R/o 1128, Ward No. 07, Kohka, Shira Road, Supela, Bhilai, District Durg C.G. ... Applicant(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station Pakhanjore, District- Kanker C.G. ... Respondent(s) (Cause title taken from Case Information System) For Applicant(s) : Mr. Gagan Tiwari, Advocate For Respondent(s)/State : Mr. Arvind Dubey, Govt. Advocate Hon'ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal Order on Board 17/11/2025 1. Present is an application under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 seeking for grant of anticipatory bail to the applicant, who is apprehending his arrest in connection with Crime No. 132/2023, registered at Police Station Pakhanjore, District North Bastar, Kanker, Chhattisgarh for the offence punishable under Sections 07 and 08 of Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022. VED PRAKASH DEWANGAN Digitally signed by VED PRAKASH DEWANGAN Date: 2025.11.19 18:10:38 +0530 2 2. The case of prosecution in brief is that, on 31.07.2023, the Police Station Pakhanjore received an information that one Shivam is roaming near HDFC Bank, Pakhanjore, who engaged in operating the Ambani Online Gambling Book and providing bank accounts, cheque book and mobile SIM card for transaction of the amount of the said Ambani Online Gambling Book. The police has taken him in custody and recorded his memorandum statement, in which he disclosed that when he was at Bhilai in year 2015, he came into contact with T. Ashish Reddy and Vikas. He was running his Fish shop, but due to the maize scam at Paralkot in the last year, in which he was also involved, he left the village and again went to Bhilai, where he met with T. Ashish Reddy, where Vikas, Arshad and Babu were also there and they disclosed that they were engaged in Ambani Online Gambling Book and since there was high risk at Bhilai and therefore, in the month of August, 2022 he had gone to Delhi with T. Ashish Reddy, where he worked for Ambani Online Gambling Book. He was assigned the work of distribution of ID through Laptop and in lieu thereof, he was receiving Rs. 20,000/- per month. Due to mismanagement of the fund, his work was taken back and then again he returned back to Pakhanjore. When again he contacted to Vikas, he asked him to provide the bank account kit of the villagers, so that he may use those accounts for transaction of the amount extracted from Online Gambling and in lieu thereof, he will provide Rs. 18,000- 20,000/- per passbook. He started his work of opening the bank account of the villagers and sending the same to Vikas at Durg. He has got opened the bank account of Dhananjay Sarkar, Asit Vishwas, 3 Rohit Vaidya, Akash Das, Suraj Mandal, Pranav Bose, Amit Bhawal, Ganesh Sardar and sent it to Vikas at Bhilai. Initially the saving bank account was being opened and subsequently, it was converted into current account and after withdrawing the entire amount, the bank account of ‘zero’ balance along with ATM card, cheque book and mobile SIM were sent to Vikas at Bhilai and Arshad, who gave it to their main person, who used the same in Online Gambling. It is also the case of the prosecution that Shivam has also withdrawn certain amounts time to time from the Bank account and subsequently used to connect his own mobile number in the bank account, so that the account holder may not receive any message from the bank about any transaction. His own bank account and the bank account of Asit Vishwas was seized due to use in Online Gambling and the said Shivam has disclosed the entire state of affairs in managing the online gambling app. From the accused Shivam, one mobile phone, 03 bank pass books of HDFC Bank, cheque books and Rs.2000/- cash have been seized. The other accused persons have also been arrested and their memorandum statements have been recorded. From T. Ashish Reddy one mobile phone has been seized. From the mobile number of T. Ashish Reddy there was Whatsapp chatting with the present applicant- Ashish Agrawal with respect to their bail applications and from his mobile gallery, Reddy Book Online Gambling App and photograph with relates to Mahadev Book Online App have been recovered, and therefore, the police has registered the offence in which the present applicant apprehending his arrest. 4 3. Learned counsel for the applicant would submit that, except the extract of the mobile phone, there is no evidence against the present applicant, which connects him in the offence in question. Even the witnesses and co-accused persons have stated about other accused persons, whereas the present applicant is the resident of Bhilai. There is no transaction in any bank account of the co-accused persons made by the applicant. The present applicant neither involved in opening any bank account of any villagers nor engaged in using the said passbooks of bank accounts in transaction of the amount extracted from online gambling. He would further submit that all other co-accused persons have been acquitted from the offence under Section 7 of the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022 and convicted only for the offence under Section 8 of the Act of 2022 by the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Pakhanjore vide its judgment dated 16.01.2025, passed in Criminal Case No. 1574 of 2024. He would further submit that the memorandum and seizure documents have not been proved in accordance with law and except the memorandum and seizure, there is no evidence against the present applicant. Section 8 of the Act of 2022 is bailable offence, in which the applicant is apprehending his arrest. The applicant is sole earning member of his family and having good reputation in the family and society, therefore, the applicant may be enlarged on anticipatory bail. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State opposes and submitted that, the name of the present applicant is come on the memorandum statement of T. Ashish Reddy and Vikram Netam, who 5 disclosed that it is the present applicant Ashish Agrawal, who advised them to involve in online gambling and he sent them Hyderabad for training. The present applicant Ashish Agrawal was running Ambani Book Online Gambling at Gurgaon, Delhi, which was run through Shivam Vishwas. After having his training at Hyderabad, they along with the present applicant Ashish Agrawal had gone to Gurgaon, Delhi and after accounting, they found loss of Rs. 10-12 lakhs and then then they withdraw the services of Shivam Vishwas and he was sent to Goa. The computer, laptop, etc. for online gambling was being provided by the present applicant Ashish and he gave dividend to him. The present applicant has also made him cautious about the registration of FIR. The present applicant is the friend of Arshad and he helped him in his absconding. Since, the present applicant could not be arrested by the police, no seizure has been made from him. He would also submit that from the memorandum statement of T. Ashish Reddy and Vikram Netam, it clearly appears that he is actively connected with the other co-accused persons, who engaged in online gambling, and he has sent him the copy of the FIR of police station Pakhanjore and asked him to obtain bail, and also informed that there is raid conducted in the house of Arshad, who is resident of Raipur, and it is Arshad who informed him that the police is searching him. Further, from the analysis of the mobile phone of T. Ashish Reddy, it is found that T. Ashish Reddy was using the mobile No. 7000213807 and running his business through WhatsApp and in WhatsApp call log of T. Ashish Reddy, it is found that there was chatting with the present applicant Arshad Ahmed Hussain in his 6 WhatsApp No. 7000109248 and WhatsApp number of Ashish Agrawal 8225865640 and there was a chatting in between Ashish Agrawal and T. Ashish Reddy regarding bail proceedings in the present F.I.R. and in the gallery in seized mobile of T. Ashish Reddy, the online gambling app Reddy Book and Mahadev app was found and therefore there is ample material against the applicant, which connects him in the alleged offence, therefore he is not entitled for anticipatory bail. 5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the case diary. 6. Having considered the rival submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, nature of allegations against the present applicant, material collected during the investigation and the structure of the offence built up by the accused persons and the role of the present applicant Ashish Agrawal in the said structure of offence, further his association with the co-accused T. Ashish Reddy and Vikram Netam and also the fact that there was a WhatsApp chatting in between T. Ashish Reddy, Ashish Agrawal and other accused, from the mobile phone of T. Ashish Reddy, the Reddy Book Online Gambling App and Mahadev App is extracted, and also from the statement of Kamlesh Majumdar, who was the cook of Shivam Vishwas and who also disclosed the conspiracy and involvement of the accused persons in the offence, I am not inclined to release the applicant on anticipatory bail. Although, the co-accused persons have been acquitted from the offence under Section 7 of the Act of 2022, but they have been 7 convicted for the offence under Section 8 of the Act of 2022. The alleged offence is an organized crime, which has various facets. From the material available in the charge sheet and the evidence available in the case diary against the applicant, he is not entitled to any benefit by the acquittal of other accused persons. 7. Accordingly, the present anticipatory bail application of the applicant- Ashish Agrawal is rejected. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) Judge ved