1 2026:CGHC:17025 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRC No. 2948 of 2026 1 - Amol S/o Shri Santosh Divnani Aged About 28 Years R/o Village Manarkhed, Police Station Balapur, District- Akola (Maharashtra) 2 - Vinayak More S/o Shri Rameshwar More, Aged About 24 Years R/o Village Dabki, Police Station Akola, , District- Akola (Maharashtra) 3 - Amit More S/o Shri Rameshwar More, Aged About 25 Years R/o Village Dabki, Police Station Akola, , District- Akola (Maharashtra) (Address Of The Applicants Correctly Mentioned) ... Petitioner(s) versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Station Khairagarh, District- Khairagarh- Chhuikhadan - Gandai (C.G.) ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Aniruddha Shrivastava, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Mr. Vinod Tekam, Govt. Advocate (Hon’ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, J.) Order on Board SUMIT KUMAR Digitally signed by SUMIT KUMAR Date: 2026.04.16 12:28:19 +0530 2 13/04/2026 1. This is first bail application seeking grant of bail to the Applicant who is in jail since 25.10.2025 in connection with Crime No.476/2025 registered at Police Station Khairagarh for the offence punishable under Sections 318(4), 319, 111(2), 61(B) of BNS, 2023, Section 66(D) of the IT Act and Sections 6 & 7 of The Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022. 2. As per prosecution case, on 15.10.2025 an FIR has been registered against the present applicants at Police Station Khairagarh for the offence under Section 66(D) of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Section 318 of BNS, 2023 on the complaint made by the complainant Ku. Vasudha Sinha stating that she is a student of Pre. Ph.D at Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalay, Khairagarh, on 22.08.2025 she punches Instagram App for shopping of Chickenkari clothes and then the person to whom she contacted in that Instagram App send a Q.R. Code for Rs.1000/- in the mobile phone of complainant and get it transferred in his bank account and thereafter he continuously got deposited Rs.64,100/- from the bank account of complainant to his own account. He still persists his demand to transfer the amount in his bank account and he will return the entire amount to complainant. Immediately the complainant made a complaint in dial No.1930 and then FIR has been registered. During investigation, the present applicants were arrested on 25.10.2025 and his memorandum statement were recorded. From the present applicants mobile one I- phone having two SIM Cards, 8 bank passbooks of different account of different persons, 11 ATMs of different account and one cheque book of 3 another account holder have been seized from him. On the basis of his memorandum statement, other accused persons have been arrested and huge number of bank passbooks, ATM cards, laptop, mobile SIM Cards etc. have been seized. During investigation it was found that the applicant has framed a network throughout the country to cheat the persons through online mode and it is the applicant who is the main person who deputed other persons to work for him. After investigation, the charge sheet has been filed in which the applicant is claiming his regular bail. 3. Learned counsel for the applicants would submit that there is no direct evidence against the applicants to connect them with the offence in question. It is only the electronic evidence in the form of mobile phone which does not implicate the applicants directly with the offence in question. There is no bank transaction with the applicants, however, on the basis of memorandum statement of the co-accused, they have been made accused in the present offence. From the mobile phones seized from the applicants, there is no incriminating data which implicate them with the offence in question have been recovered by the prosecution and no cash amount has been seized from them. He would further submit that the applicants having no criminal antecedents and therefore, they may be enlarged on bail. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State opposes the bail application and have submitted that applicants have framed the entire network of online cheating and appointed various persons throughout the country to run the illegal activities of cheating through online mode. They provide QR code in mobile phones to collect money from the 4 persons and once the person contacted for any purposes and made transaction, they catch them and siphoned their amount from their bank through illegal mode. From the memorandum statement of present applicants, various other accused persons have been arrested and huge number of laptops, mobile phone, passbooks, ATM cards and SIM cards have been seized and their network throughout the country has been disclosed. It is an organized crime in which the applicant is actively involved to cheat various persons. He would further submit that from applicant No.1 – Amol, one mobile phone, six passbooks, five ATM cards, one cheque-book, from the applicant No.2 - Vinayak More, one mobile phone, two laptops, two premium ATM cards, two normal ATM cards, four passbooks, one cheque-book and from the applicant No.3 - Amit More, one mobile phone, one laptop, six passbooks and three ATM cards have been seized for which there is no explanation as to how they found in possession of the same. He would also submit that the bail application of the co-accused Goutam Punjabi has been rejected by this Court on merits vide order dated 13.01.2026 passed in MCRC No. 9842 of 2025. Therefore, there is sufficient prima facie material that the applicants are involved in online cheating to the complainant and other persons and as such they are not entitled for bail. 5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material annexed with the bail application as well as the case diary. 6. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, considering the nature of allegation and material collected during investigation and further considering the gravity of the offence 5 and the allegation that the applicants along with other accused persons have made a syndicate and organized the entire network throughout the country to cheat various persons and also considering seizure of huge number of ATM cards, passbooks, mobile phones, laptop, SIM cards etc. and also that the bail application of the co-accused Goutam Punjabi has already been rejected by this Court on 13.01.2026, I am not inclined to release the applicants on bail. 7. Accordingly, the application for grant of bail to the applicants – Amol, Vinayak More and Amit More is rejected. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) JUDGE Sumit