Chattisgarh High Court
Mr. Nitish Diwan vs State Of Chhattisgarh on 16 January, 2025
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2025:CGHC:2964
NAFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
MCRC No. 7197 of 2024
Order reserved on 19/11/2024
Order delivered on 16/01/2025
Mr. Nitish Diwan S/o Sanjeev Kumar Diwan Aged About 25 Years R/o Shop
No. 06, Gol Market, Vaishali Nagar, Bhilai, Durg, Chhattisgarh
... Applicant
-Versus-
State Of Chhattisgarh Through Additional Superintendent Of Police,
Economic Offence Wing/Anti Corruption Bureau, District Raipur,
Chhattisgarh
... Respondent
(Cause title taken from Case Information System)
For Applicant : Mr. Kishore Bhaduri, Senior Advocate
along with Mr. Mohit Kumar, Advocate
and Ms. Monika Singh, Advocate
For Respondent/State : Dr. Saurabh Kumar Pande, Advocate
Hon’ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal
C.A.V. Order
1. This is the first bail application filed by the applicant under Section
483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for grant of regular
bail to the applicant who has been arrested on 12.06.2024 for the
offence under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 201, 120-B of IPC,
Digitally
signed by
VEDPRAKASH Sections 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and
DEWANGAN
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Sections 4, 7, 8 and 11 of the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition)
Act, 2022 and Section 4A of Public Gambling Act, registered at
Economic Offence Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau, Raipur,
Chhattisgarh, in Crime No. 6 of 2024.
2. The prosecution case in brief is that, an FIR of Crime No. 112/2022
registered on 29.07.2022 at Police Station Mohan Nagar, Durg (C.G.)
under Section 4A of the Public Gambling (C.G. Amendment) Act,
1976, which was registered against five accused persons, namely,
Alok Singh Rajput, Rampravesh Sahu, Kharag @ Raja Singh,
Abhishek and Pintu, under Section 4A of the Public Gambling (C.G.
Amendment) Act, 1976 and Section 420, 120B of the IPC and also
for Section 66D of Information Technology Act, 2000. The
Enforcement Directorate had registered the Enforcement Case
Information Report (hereinafter referred as ‘ECIR’) No.
RPZ0/10/2022. On the secret information gathered by the officers of
the ED, the raid was conducted on the premises of the accused
persons in which it was found that a set with a laptop and they were
collecting money by creating online IDs and through the said IDs they
were placing bets for others through Mahadev Book, on Online
cricket matches, horse racing. greyhound racing, kabaddi etc. Upon
interrogation, the accused persons disclosed the names of two
persons namely Abhishek and Pintu who taught them to procedure of
creating the IDs and placing bets in various sports through the
Mahadev Book. Initially, treating the FIR No. 112/2022 of P.S. Mohan
Nagar, Durg and final report dated 29.07.2022 as scheduled/
predicate offence, the respondent ED registered the ECIR No.
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RPZO/09/2022 which was renumbered as ECIR No. RPZ0/10/2022
vide corrigendum dated 07.11.2022 issued by the ED.
*******In the said ECIR, FIR No. 206/2023 dated 02.06.2023
registered at P.S. Cyber Crime Vishakhapattanam Commissionerate,
Andhra Pradesh, FIR No. 37/2023 registered at P.S. Bhilai Bhatti,
District Durg (C.G.), FIR No. 86/2023 dated 27.02.2023 registered at
P.S. Chhawani, District Durg (C.G.), FIR No. 336/2023 dated
10.08.2023 registered at P.S. Gudhiyari, District Raipur (C.G.), FIR
No. 685/2023 dated 11.08.2023 registered at P.S. Khamtarai, District
Raipur (C.G.), FIR No. 6/2024 dated 04.03.2024 registered at EOW,
Raipur (C.G.) and FIR No. 206/2020 dated 24.09.2020 registered at
P.S. Burtola, Kolkata, West Bengal, have been included in the said
ECIR.
*******On 20.10.2023, the ED filed its first prosecution complaint
against 14 accused persons, alleging that the online gambling app in
the name of Mahadev Online Book is established for illegal betting in
different live games like; poker, card games, chance games, betting
on cricket, badminton, tennis, football, etc. and also to provide facility
for playing several card games like; teen patti, dragon tiger, virtual
cricket games using cards, etc. It is also alleged that the Mahadev
Online Book advertised about these betting websites through closed
WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages.
*******During the investigation conducted by the ED, it comes in the
investigation that the promoters of the Mahadev Online Book, namely
Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, were running the said illegal
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betting app through online mode and the tentacles of the online
betting app have been spread wide enough and the promoters
created a system of franchising the panels for illegal online betting
app within the Indian territory as well as at abroad. The betting app is
operated by various panel/branches, which are sold in a small
franchise by the promoters Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal
through their associates. An elaborate system to receive incoming
money from the betting user and also to pay them back as winning
amount has been created in a well planned manner. They created a
system that the betting user cannot directly pay money on the
website and they need to contact on WhatsApp and deposit money
into bank accounts in India, which have been obtained by the panel
operators/promoters by way of deceiving and cheating the peoples.
All centres will tag him with a panel, which will share the bank
account details and create the user ID, allocate points/tokens etc.
The promoters keep nearly 70-75% of the profit of the panel
operations. A panel has an owner and workers who are usually four
in numbers. One person can own multiple panels and there was no
bar on number of panels being operated by one person. The head
office is at Dubai who creates ID and password for the panel owners.
The panel operator using the IDs can further create sub-IDs for
player/punters. The IDs are generally created on multiple websites as
depicted on the app of Mahadev online book. After receiving the
details of panel, the players/punters deposit the minimum amount of
Rs.100/- for online betting with no maximum amount. All the games
are rigged in a manner that overall, the panel owners will not lose
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money. During the investigation, multiple panel operators were
raided, who were working under the Mahadev online book and it
came on record that the said betting syndicate was generating
proceeds of crime worth Rs.450 crores per month through the panel
operations. It also came in the investigation that Sourabh Chandrakar
and Ravi Uppal in the entire investigation to be the kingpin of the
betting empire and indulge in money laundering with their associates.
In the investigation, it also come that the said panel operations was
running with active support and connivance of local police and
politicians and after receiving illegal gratification, they supported the
said illegal betting racket by closing their eyes. It also come that one
ASI Chandrabhushan Verma who acted as Liaisoner for the
Mahadev online book promoters with political executives of the
Chhattisgarh State, who negotiated between them. He was collecting
Hawala payments made available by the promoters of Mahadev book
and distributing the same to the bureaucrats/politicians for ensuring
smooth operations of the illegal betting websites. The funds have
moved in and out of India to Dubai through various channels.
Involvement of a number of persons were found during the
investigation including the persons who engaged in layering the
proceeds of crime.
*******The ED, during the investigation also caught hold the Hawala
kings namely Anil Kumar Dammani and Sunil Kumar Dammani. The
proceeds of crime generated by the main promoters are being
layered and invested in order to acquire assets abroad. Large
expenditure in cash is also being done in India for advertising the
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betting websites to attract new users and franchises. During the
investigation, raids/searches were conducted at various places
through which the associates of promoters of Mahadev online book,
individuals associated with them, event organizers, panel operators
working on commission basis for Mahadev online book, family of the
promoters of Mahadev online book, Hawala operators. A huge
amount was seized and frozen during the searches.
*******During the investigation, it is also unveiled that ASI
Chandrabhushan Verma was having role of Chief Liaisoner for
Mahadev betting app in Chhattisgarh, Satish Chandrakar was
operating Mahadev panel and distributing funds at the behest of Ravi
Uppal, Anil Dammani and Sunil Dammani were knowingly distributing
funds for Mahadev betting app, Bheem Singh and Aseem Das were
involved in delivery of the Liaisoning money, Nitin Tibrewal was
engaged in layering the proceeds of crime through his foreign entities
and generation of illegal betting earning through sky exchange, Amit
Agrawal for layering the betting earning in land transaction and Nitish
Deewan for being involved in the betting operations and assisting the
main promoters of Mahadev online book in their money laundering
activities.
*******During the investigation the involvement of the present
applicant is also found that he had played an active role in laundering
of proceeds of crime generated out of illegal operations of Mahadev
online book. He was holding assets in his name which was acquired
by the benefits of Mahadev online book. He was fully aware of the
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illegal operations of Mahadev online book and despite that he was
holding bank accounts and operating these bank accounts for routing
funds. During the investigation, the mobile phones of the present
applicant was impounded in which various information was extracted.
He was found to be holding shares of entities beneficially owned by
promoters of Mahadev online book.
*******On 01.03.2024, the Enforcement Directorate have shared the
information to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Economic
Offence Wing and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Raipur, Chhattisgarh
under the provisions of Section 66(2) of the PMLA-2002 and
disclosed the information about the ECIR No. RPZO/10/2022 and
subsequent complaint filed by it. In the said information, it has been
disclosed that the Mahadev online book has been running for illegal
betting in different live games like poker, card games, etc. and the
promoters of the Mahadev online betting app is regulating the said
app from its head office at Dubai. The promoters have given
franchisee of the said online betting app to various panel operators to
manage the business on day-to-day basis. Along with the
information, the ED annexed the documents available to them with
respect to the involvement of the accused persons in the Mahadev
online betting app.
*******On the basis of letter dated 01.03.2024, the EOW/ACB
registered an FIR under the Crime No. 6/2024 on 04.03.2024 for the
offence under Sections 120-B, 34, 406, 420, 467, 468, 471 of IPC,
Sections 7 and 11 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as
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amended by amendment of the year 2018), in which the present
applicant has been named along with other accused persons. The
applicant is arrested on 12.06.2024 and charge sheet has been filed
in the case.
3. Learned Senior Advocate appearing for the applicant would submit
that the investigating agency has acted most arbitrarily and it had
nothing, but ill-motivated and mala fide intention to implicate the
applicant in offence. He is having no connection or association in any
way either with the affairs of the business of Mahadev online book or
has received the proceeds of crime. He would further submit that
initially, the applicant was intercepted on 05.11.2023 at Delhi Airport
and he was interrogated. His cell phone was seized by the ED and
same was impounded on that very day, but no seizure memo was
prepared at Delhi. The main allegation against the present applicant
is that he is closed to Mr. Sourabh Chandrakar and he was interested
with hiring Bollywood celebrities for different events of Mahadev
Book. The applicant had gone to Dubai in search of work and in that
process, the promoters of Mahadev Book had taken his ID cards and
passport and he employed him. The name of the present applicant is
not come in the statement of the witnesses that he too have in fault in
illegal betting app. Except from the mobile phone extracts, no other
evidence available in the case against the present applicant.
Although the applicant denied the ownership of any property at
Dubai, however there is no evidence that the said property was
purchased by the applicant from the proceeds of crime. The
extracted record from the mobile phone is inadmissible in evidence
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for want of sufficient compliance under the Evidence Act. The
applicant is an employee and engaged in work of issuing visas to
various persons during their travel to Dubai and meeting the different
Bollywood celebrities and get a chance to have a photo with them,
are part of his employment. There is no person, who were cheated
by the applicant. There is no evidence that the applicant conspired
with the other co-accused persons. The applicant is in jail since
12.06.2024 and till date only the charge-sheet has been filed. Even
the charges have not been framed and therefore, there is every
possibility of delay in trial. The long period of incarceration and in
view of the violation of his fundamental rights guaranteed under
Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the applicant is entitled for
release on bail.
*******In support of his submissions, he would rely upon the judgment
passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI
and another, (2022) 10 SCC 51, Arvind Kejriwal v. Directorate of
Enforcement, order dated 12.07.2024 passed in Criminal Appeal No.
2493 of 2024, Manish Sisodia v. Directorate of Enforcement, 2024
SCC OnLine SC 1920, Siddharth v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (2022)
1 SCC 676, Joginder Kumar v. State of U.P., 1994 Cr.L.J. 1981 and
submitted that looking to the period of his custody, he is cooperative
during the entire investigation and there is no possibility of tampering
with the witnesses or document as the investigation has already been
completed. Therefore, the applicant may be enlarged on bail.
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4. Per contra, learned counsel for the State vehemently opposed the
submissions of learned counsel for the applicant and has submitted
that he is named accused in the said offence. He associated with
Sourabh Chandrakar since 2020-21 and actively engaged in
Mahadev Online Book while staying in touch with Sourabh
Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal and Shubham Soni. The applicant was also
a shareholder in several companies owned by Sourabh Chandrakar
and his main work was to ensure to remove the hurdle between the
panel operators/punters/players of betting. A company named Sports
Buzz was also opened in Dubai. He would further submit that from
the statement recorded under Section 161 CRPC of Vishal Dubey,
Kapil Chelani, Vinay Kumar, Deepan Joseph and Kamal Chelani and
also from their 164 CRPC statements, mobile analysis report and the
memorandum statement of the applicant, the prima facie involvement
of the applicant in the offence in question is made out. After due
investigation, the police has filed charge sheet before the learned
Special Court, Raipur on 19.07.2024 against 10 accused persons
including the present applicant.
*******He would also submit that when the EOW/ACB received an
information of cognizable offence, he has to register the FIR as per
the direction issued by Hon’ble Supreme Court in case of Lalita
Kumari v. Government of Uttar Pradesh and Ors. (2008) 7 SCC
164. The ECIR is not an FIR, but is a complaint. He would further
submit that for commission of offence under Section 3 of PMLA, it is
not necessary that a person must also commit the predicate offence.
He would also submit that the involvement in the criminal activity is
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the relevant consideration. A person can be held guilty in money
laundering, even if he is not named in the scheduled offence. In
support of his contention, he relied upon the case of Vijay Madanlal
Choudhary v. Union of India, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 929. In the
present case, the offence under the money laundering act is not akin
to the offence of IPC or the Prevention of Corruption Act. The offence
of money laundering is entirely different from the offence of cheating
or forgery of the valuable security/document. He would also relied
upon the judgment passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the
matter of State Through CBI v. Anil Sharma, (1997), 7 SCC 187, in
which the Hon’ble Supreme Court has considered that the custodial
interrogation is a qualitative method of interrogation and ED has only
shared certain information with the EOW/ACB, and it is for the
EOW/ACB to interrogate the allegations of the information.
Therefore, there is need to arrest to the applicant and to interrogate
him. While considering the bail application, the allegations in the
charge sheet against the applicant is the relevant consideration and
the role of the accused and also the prima facie evidence available
against him. In the present case, there is sufficient evidence available
against the present applicant that he is involved in the alleged
offence and looking to the seriousness of the offence, he is not
entitled to be released on bail.
5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material
placed in the present case by both the parties.
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6. For consideration of the bail application of the applicant, the Court
need not go deep inside the merits of the case, but should consider
the prima facie material against the accused in the case. The Hon’ble
Supreme Court in the matter of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case
(supra) has observed in para 401 of its judgment that:-
“401. We are in agreement with the observation made
by the Court in Ranjitsing Brahmajeetsing Sharma
[(2005) 5 SCC 294). The Court while dealing with the
application for grant of bail need not delve deep into
the merits of the case and only a view of the Court
based on available material on record is required. The
Court will not weigh the evidence to find the guilt of
the accused which is, of course, the work of Trial
Court. The Court is only required to place its view
based on probability on the basis of reasonable
material collected during the investigation and the
said view will not be taken into consideration by the
Trial Court in recording its finding of the guilt or
acquittal during trial which is based on the evidence
adduced during the trial. As explained by this Court in
Nimmagadda Prasad [(2013) 7 SCC 466], the words
used in Section 45 of the 2002 Act are “reasonable
grounds for believing” which means the Court has to
see only if there is a genuine case against the
accused and the prosecution is not required to prove
the charge beyond reasonable doubt.”
7. In the case of Satish Jaggi Vs. State of Chhattisgarh, (2007) 11
SCC 195, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that “at the stage of
granting of bail, the Court can only go into the question of prima facie
case established for granting bail, it cannot go into the question of
credibility and reliability of witnesses put up by the prosecution. The
question of credibility and reliability of prosecution witnesses can only
be tested during trial.”
8. In the present case from the statement of Vishal Dubey, it reveals
that in the year 2021, when he went to Dubai on call of Sourabh
Chandrakar, he introduced him with the present applicant, who was
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working with them and associated with Mahadev Online Book. From
the statement of Kapil Chelani, it reveals that the present applicant
had gone to Dubai along with Sourabh Chandrakar in the year 2020
and started operating Mahadev Online Book. He also disclosed the
procedure of operating Mahadev Online Betting App and receiving the
proceeds of crime. He also disclosed that the present applicant was
managing the tickets and visas of the guests of Sourabh Chandrakar
and other promoters. Sourabh Chandrakar has opened a company
named as Sports Buzz at Dubai in the name of present applicant. He
also actively participated the IIFA Awards 2022. From the statement
of Deepan Joseph, it also comes on record that the present applicant
Nitish Diwan was engaged in managing the tickets and visas from
India to Dubai for the persons, who associated with Mahadev Online
Book and its promoters. From the statement of Vinay Kumar, Kamal
Chelani, Vishal Dubey, it comes that the present applicant is engaged
in extracting the proceeds of crime by actively participated and
associated with the promoters of Mahadev Online Book. There is
sufficient evidence against the applicant to prima facie come into
conclusion that he involved in the offence.
9. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy
Vs. CBI, reported in (2013) 7 SCC 439 has held in para 34 and 35 of
its judgment that
“34. Economic offences constitute a class apart and
need to be visited with a different approach in the
matter of bail. The economic offences having deep-
rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public
funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as
grave offences affecting the economy of the country
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as a whole and thereby posing serious threat to the
financial health of the country.
35. While granting bail, the court has to keep in mind
the nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in
support thereof, the severity of the punishment which
conviction will entail, the character of the accused,
circumstances which are peculiar to the accused,
reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the
accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the
witnesses being tampered with, the larger interests of
the public/State and other similar considerations.
10. Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary
(supra) has observed in para 398 as under :-
“398. Thus, it is well settled by the various decisions
of this Court and policy of the State as also the view
of international community that the offence of money-
laundering is committed by an individual with a
deliberate design with the motive to enhance his
gains, disregarding the interests of nation and society
as a whole and which by no stretch of imagination can
be termed as offence of trivial nature. Thus, it is in the
interest of the State that law enforcement agencies
should be provided with a proportionate effective
mechanism so as to deal with these types of offences
as the wealth of the nation is to be safeguarded from
these dreaded criminals. As discussed above, the
conspiracy of money-laundering, which is a three-
staged process, is hatched in secrecy and executed in
darkness, thus, it becomes imperative for the State to
frame such a stringent law, which not only punishes
the offender proportionately, but also helps in
preventing the offence and creating a deterrent
effect.”
11. Having considered the rival submissions made by respective parties,
as also from the material produced in the present case, it is not
acceptable that the present applicant did not know about the
transactions of Mahadev online book and the money obtained by him.
Denial by the applicant itself is not sufficient to consider prima facie
that there is no mens rea of the applicant for the said offence either
under the IPC, Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2022 or
Public Gambling Act, 1867 or under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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Although the statements of the witnesses are required to be tested at
the time of trial, but for the purpose of consideration of bail
application, the statements of the witnesses are relevant for
consideration of bail application of the applicant.
12. As has been discussed hereinabove, it cannot be said that there is
no involvement of the applicant in the offence in question.
Considering the role of the applicant in obtaining the money through
illegal source, which is the proceeds of crime in the Mahadev book
app, it is found that there is sufficient evidence collected by the
EOW/ACB to prima facie show the involvement of the applicant in the
alleged offences. It is an organized crime having various facets of its
complexion, therefore, further considering the nature of offence and
material collected during the investigation, this Court is satisfied that
there is prima facie evidence for believing that the applicant is
involved in the offence, therefore, I am not inclined to release the
applicant on bail.
13. Consequently, the present bail application filed by the applicant-
Nitish Diwan is rejected.
Sd/-
(Ravindra Kumar Agrawal)
Judge
ved
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