1 2026:CGHC:20579 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRCA No. 441 of 2026 1 - Rohit Panjwani S/o Narayan Das Panjwani Aged About 36 Years, R/o Chakarbhatha Camp Nagar Panchayat Bodri, District Bilaspur (CG) ... Applicant versus 1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through- Police Station Civil Line, District Bilaspur (CG) ... Respondent For Applicant : Mr. Manoj Paranjpe, Senior Advocate with Mr. A. D. Diwan, Advocate. For State : Mr. Ghanshyam Kashyap, Deputy Govt. Advocate. Hon’ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, J Order on Board 01-05-2026 1. Apprehending arrest in connection with Crime No.34/2026, registered at Police Station Civil Lines, Bilaspur, for the offence punishable under Section 7(2) of Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Section 112 of BNS, the applicant has filed the present anticipatory bail application. 2. The case of prosecution is that on 06-01-2026, the police of Police Station Civil Lines, Bilaspur, received a secret information that one Avinash Wadhwani is engaged in online gambling in Cricket match and he is standing near Maharana Chowk, Bilaspur. The police intercepted the co-accused Avinash Wadhwani and his mobile phone was seized. From his mobile phone, end numbers of whatsapp and mobile Apps were recovered through which he was engaged in playing online gambling with various persons. On Digitally signed by MOHAMMED AADIL KHAN Date: 2026.05.07 12:15:14 +0530 2 being interrogated, he disclosed that he along with co-accused Sagar Chetwani and present applicant are engaged in online gambling since three years. 3. Learned Counsel for the applicant would submit that the applicant is projected as accused on the basis of memorandum statement of co-accused Avinash Wadhwani. Except memorandum statement, there is no other evidence against him to connect him in the offence in question. Even from the material extracted from mobile phone of co-accused Avinash Wadhwani, there was no direct connection of present applicant to implicate him in the offence in question. Electronic evidences are inadmissible in evidence, yet the applicant has been made accused in the offence. Learned counsel for the applicant would also submit that there are two criminal antecedents of the applicant and in both these criminal antecedents, the applicant has been acquitted. He referred the documents annexed with the bail application as Annexure A/3 and Annexur- A/4. Therefore, he may be granted anticipatory bail as no custodial interrogation is required. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State opposes the bail application and have submitted that on secret information being received, the police conducted search and arrested the accused Avinash Wadhwani from whom the information was extracted and from his mobile phone whatsapp messages and other information were collected. On memorandum, the name of present applicant was disclosed by the co-accused Avinash Wadhwani and thus present applicant is required for interrogation. From the material extracted from mobile phone of Avinash Wadhwani, there is sufficient evidence against present applicant with respect to cash transaction and conversation between the accused persons which shows active involvement of present applicant in offence in question. The present applicant is having 3 three criminal antecedent (1) Crime No. 101/2013, registered at Police Station Chakarbhata, District Bilaspur (C.G.) for the offence under Section 13 of the Public Gambling Act, 1867, (2) Crime No.327/2018 registered at Police Station Chakarbhata, District Bilaspur (C.G.) for the offence under Section 4 and 4A of the Public Gambling Act, 1867 and (3) Crime No.35/2026 registered at Police Station Civil Lines, Bilaspur (C.G.) for the offence under Section 7(2) of the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Section 112 of BNS, 2023. Therefore, he is not entitled for anticipatory bail. Further, regular bail application of Avinash Wadhwani have already been rejected by this court vide order dated 16-02-2026 in MCRC No.1192 of 2026 and anticipatory bail application of co-accused Sagar Chetwani has also been rejected vide order dated 09-03-2026 passed in MCRCA No.309/2026. 5. I have heard the counsel for the parties and perused the material annexed with the bail application and case diary. 6. This Court vide order dated 09-04-2026 directed the State counsel to collect the report of the mobile phone seized from the co-accused persons from the Cyber Cell Bilaspur to substantiate the allegation against the present applicant, if any. Pursuant to the order dated 09-04-2026 the learned counsel for the State produced the report dated 30-04-2026 sent from the Station House Officer, Police Station Civil Lines, Bilaspur along with extract of the report, the same is also perused by the learned counsel for the applicant and the same is being taken on record. 7. From the perusal of the report, it clearly reveals that from the mobile phone of co-accused persons, transactions with the present applicant have been made which reflected from the whatsapp chat and the extract of the whatsapp is also annexed along with the report, the said transaction was made on various dates and time which demonstrates the involvement of the 4 present applicant with the other co-accused persons in the offence. 8. Considering the submissions made by the counsel for the parties, considering three criminal antecedents of the applicant and considering the Cyber Cell report submitted by the State counsel in which there is clear indication of money transaction between the accused persons and the present applicant and the bank account details available in the case diary, also considering that the anticipatory bail application of Sagar Chetwani has been rejected by this Court, I am not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the applicant. 9. Accordingly, the present anticipatory bail application of the applicant is rejected. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) Judge Aadil