1 2026:CGHC:5338 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRC No. 1031 of 2026 1 - Sameer Singh Thakur S/o Nirmal Singh Thakur, Aged About 25 Years, R/o Bunkar Society, Ward No. 08, Amapara, Police Station - Azad Chowk, Raipur, District - Raipur (C.G.) ... Applicant versus 1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Station - Devendra Nagar, District - Raipur (C.G.) ... Non-applicant (Cause-title taken from Case Information System) For Applicant : Mr. Veer Verma, Advocate. For State : Mr. Vinod Tekam, Govt. Advocate. Hon'ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, J. Order on Board 30.01.2026 1. This is the second bail application of the applicant. The first bail application of the applicant has been dismissed on merits by this Court vide order dated 17.09.2025 passed in MCRC No. 6352/2025. 2. The applicant is claiming regular bail who has been arrested on 25.04.2025 in connection Crime No. 73/2025 registered at Police Station Devendra Nagar, District- Raipur for the offences under Sections 318(4), 61(2), 112(2) of BNS, 2023, Section 4(a) of Gambling Act, and Section 7 of the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Section 25(c) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. 3. The prosecution’s case in brief is that, on 13-04-2025, the police of Devendra Nagar, Raipur, received secret information that the co-accused Nikhil Wadhwani is engaged in online gambling. They conducted a raid and Digitally signed by MOHAMMED AADIL KHAN Date: 2026.02.16 19:34:58 +0530 2 arrested Nikhil Wadhwani, who disclosed that he is engaged in playing online gambling through the “Rajveer online book” through his mobile Nos. 7987974436 and +94725211590. On being interrogation, he also disclosed the mobile numbers of others who are connected through other states of the country, i.e. 6263232022, 6238190441, 9669096065 and 7997009800. Based on the information, the police conducted raid at Ashiyana Apartment, Kolkata (W.B.) and arrested Pankaj Waswani, Dipanshu Gupta, Prateek Soni, Sandeep Amrani, Ankush Mishra and Roshan Kumar Thakur. From Tulsi Apartment, Kolkata (W.B.), they have arrested Ravi Sajnani and Taju Masih. From Mahendri Apartment, Beltola, Guwahati (Assam), they have arrested Kushal Sahu, Jeet Singh, Sujal Ruprela, Anurag Daharia, Hardeep Singh and Bhanupratap Singh Rajput. From Rajpur Road, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), they have arrested Rahul Sahu @ Bhari, Anand Kumar Das, Divya Chandrawanshi, Toshan Dewangan, Devesh Kumar and Sameer Singh Thakur (present applicant). From Devendra Nagar, Raipur, they have arrested Saif Ali @ sobu. All of them were engaged in online betting apps and gambling. There are 23 accused persons arrested, and some are still absconding. 4. Learned counsel for the applicant would submit that after rejection of the first bail application of the applicant on 17.09.2025, the co-accused persons Saif Ali and Roshan Kumar Thakur have approached before the Hon’ble Supreme Court by filing their SLP (Criminal) No. 16447/2025 and SLP (Criminal) No. 17655/2025, in which vide order dated 01.12.2025, these two accused persons have been granted bail by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The case of the present applicant is also similar to those two accused persons who have been granted bail by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, therefore, the present applicant has filed his second bail application. 5. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State opposes the submissions made by learned counsel for the applicant and submits that the case of those two accused persons Saif Ali and Roshan Kumar Thakur are distinguishable 3 with the allegation of the present applicant. From the present applicant 01 Laptop, 07 mobile phones have been seized. He would also submit that looking to the nature of offence and the alleged syndicate of the accused persons and also that the first bail application of the applicant has been dismissed on merits, therefore, he is not entitled for bail. 6. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material annexed with the bail application. 7. Considering the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, considering the nature of allegation and also considering the fact that the first bail application of the applicant has been dismissed on merits, second bail application of the co-accused Divya Chandrawanshi has already been dismissed by this Court vide order dated 14.01.2026 passed in MCRC No.510 of 2026 and the allegation of his involvement in the alleged syndicate of the accused persons in playing online gambling, I am not convinced that there is any change in circumstances in favour of the applicant. The two accused persons who have been granted bail by Hob’ble Supreme Court, from whom only the mobile phone have been seized, therefore, their case is distinguishable from the present applicant. 8. Accordingly, the second bail application of the applicant is dismissed at the motion stage. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) Judge Aadil