Chattisgarh High Court
Bharatjyoti @ Guru @ Bhaskar vs State Of Chhattisgarh on 27 January, 2025
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2025:CGHC:4840
NAFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
MCRC No. 8625 of 2024
Order reserved on 20/01/2025
Order delivered on 27/01/2025
1 - Bharatjyoti @ Guru @ Bhaskar S/o Shri Pradeep Kumar Pandey Aged
About 35 Years R/o- Mangitpur, Post- Sohgi, P.S.- Nasriganj, District- Rohtas
(Bihar) Present R/o. D Block-404, Asoka Ratan, Shankar Nagar, Raipur, Tehsil
And District Raipur (Chhattisgarh) (Present Address Wrongly Not Mentioned In
The Impugned Order)
2 - Vishwajeet Rai Choudhary S/o Shri P.B. Rai Choudhary Aged About 33
Years R/o- House No. 151, Bengali Colony, New Khursipar, Bhilai District Durg
3 - Atul Singh S/o Shri Pushparaj Singh Aged About 35 Years Present R/o-
House No. 3120, Jawahar Nagar, Ward No. 14, Bhilai District- Durg,
Permanent R/o - House No. 5, Near Deepak Nursing Home, Sirmore
Chauraha, Murlidhar Colony, Police Station- Civil Lines, District- Rewa (M.P.)
(Name Of The Applicants Are Not Mentioned In The Cause Title Of The
Impugned Order.)
... Applicants
versus
State Of Chhattisgarh Through- Station House Officer, Police Station- Eow/acb
Raipur, District Raipur (Chhattisgarh)
... Respondent
Digitally (Cause title taken from Case Information System)
signed by
VEDPRAKASH
DEWANGAN
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For Applicants : Mr. Prasoon Agrawal, Advocate
For Respondent/State : Dr. Saurabh Kumar Pande, Dy. A.G.
Hon’ble Shri Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal
C.A.V. Order
1. This is the first bail application filed by the applicants under Section 483
of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for grant of regular bail to
the applicants, who have been arrested on 07.08.2024 for the offence
under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 201, 120-B of IPC, Sections 7 and
7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and 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
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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. 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 Vishakhapatnam 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,
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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
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
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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 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.
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*******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 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 Diwan for being involved in
the betting operations and assisting the main promoters of Mahadev
online book in their money laundering activities.
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*******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 amended by amendment of the
year 2018), in which the present applicants have been named along with
other accused persons. During the investigation the involvement of the
present applicants are also found that they had played an active role in
laundering of proceeds of crime generated out of illegal operations of
Mahadev online book. They were fully aware of the illegal operations of
Mahadev online book and despite that they were providing fake SIM
cards and mobile phones to generate the OTP while playing the online
betting to various persons. During the investigation, the mobile phones
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and SIM cards were seized from the applicants, from which various
information was extracted. After considering sufficient evidence against
them and they have been arrested on 07.08.2024 and charge sheet has
been filed in the case.
3. Learned counsel appearing for the applicants would submit that the
investigating agency has acted most arbitrarily and it had nothing, but ill-
motivated and mala fide intention to implicate the applicants in offence.
They are having no connection or association in any way either with the
affairs of the business of Mahadev online book or have received the
proceeds of crime. He would further submit that the prosecution has
failed to establish the link of present applicants with the alleged offence.
He would further submit that in order to save the other accused persons,
the present applicants have been implicated in the offence. There is no
allegation against the present applicants that they were actively involved
in operating any penal of Mahadev Online Book or any other betting app,
but it is alleged that certain SIM cards and mobile phones have been
seized from them, which were used for providing OTP during the online
betting. The mobile phones, which are shown to be seized from the
applicants, are actually not been seized from the applicants. He would
further submit that there is no evidence collected by the prosecution that
the mobile phones and SIM cards, which are allegedly seized from the
applicants are actually used in online betting app. There is no connection
of the applicants with that of Mahadev Online Book, Lotus-365 or Reddy
Anna Book. The prosecution agency has collected the electronic
evidence, for which there is no basis that the applicants are involved in
the offence. There is no ingredients of cheating in the material collected
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during the investigation. No offence of either cheating, forgery of
valuable security, using as genuine a forge document, any criminal
conspiracy or even causing disappearance of any evidence. There is no
sufficient material against the applicants for commission of offence under
the Prevention of Corruption Act. The electronic evidence collected by
the prosecution is very weak type of evidence, on which there is no
possibility to sustain conviction of the applicants. There is no sufficient
evidence in the charge sheet against the applicants that they actively
involved in illegal earning through Mahadev Book.
*******He would further submit that in the charge sheet it is alleged
against the present applicants that they gained an unfair economic
advantage by various illegal means, by providing mobile phones and
SIM cards on online gambling, which makes them liable to be punished
for the alleged offences, but there is no specific allegation against the
applicants relating to any illegal act. There is no person, who were
cheated by the applicants. There is no evidence that the applicants
conspired with the other co-accused persons. The applicants are in jail
since 07.08.2024 and till date only charge sheet has been filed and 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 applicants are 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, P. Chidambaram v. Directorate of
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Enforcement, (2020) 13 SCC 791, Sanjay Chandra v. CBI, (2012) 1
SCC 40, 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 their custody, they are 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 applicants may be enlarged on bail.
4. Per contra, learned counsel for the State vehemently opposed the
submissions of learned counsel for the applicants and has submitted that
during the investigation, it was found that the promoters of Mahadev
Online Book, who had created an online platform as an alternative to
illegal betting in various live games in place of offline betting and started
betting through various websites through WhatsApp, Facebook and
Telegram. From the illegal earning, about 70-80% of the earning were
kept by the promoters and the remaining amount was given to penal
operators. Their turnover was about Rs. 450 Crores monthly through
online betting app. The transaction of amount was through the bank
accounts, which were opened on the basis of fake documents for
transaction of the said illegal earned income. The huge cash amount
was spent by the promoters of Mahadev Book App on advertisement of
betting websites and for that they organized ‘Star Studded’ events, in
which the various Bollywood celebrities were participated. Investments
have been made in various companies, shell companies and stock
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market and also in cryptocurrency. Another betting platform Sky
Exchange was also run by Harishankar Tibrewal from whose possession
the assets worth of Rs. 580 Crores were acquired through illegal
earning.
*******It is also submitted by him that the present applicants were
misused the Aadhar Card/Identity Card/Photos of various persons in the
illegal business of betting through online gambling app, like Mahadev
Book, Reddy Anna and Fair Play and purchased SIM cards of various
companies and used those SIM cards to make players/punters, play
betting in Mahadev Book. These SIM cards were used for promotion of
Mahadev Book as penal operator, customer care number, to login to
WhatsApp and they also arranged bank accounts for circulation of illegal
money comes from Mahadev Book. The applicant Bharat Jyoti Pandey
was also found to be operated a penal in Mahadev Book and a huge
number of SIM cards and mobile phones have been seized from the
present applicants. The present applicants were operating OTP centres
for Mahadev Book and other betting platform by arranging keypad
mobiles and fake SIM cards. The WhatsApp group was also created by
the OTP centre, which connected with the representative of Mahadev
Book from head office at Dubai. The said SIM cards were distributed in
alphanumeric series and delivered to the accused persons through
parcels from the head office of Mahadev Book. The OTP was sent
through text messages and on the basis of tax messages, WhatsApp
was activated. He would further submit that from the possession of the
applicant- Bharat Jyoti Pandey @ Guru @ Bhaskar 50 mobile phones
and more than 400 SIM cards have been seized from his possession.
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From the applicant- Vishwajeet Rai Choudhary, huge number of mobile
phones and SIM cards have been seized. Further, from the applicant-
Atul Singh also 25 mobile phones and huge number of SIM cards were
seized during investigation. He would further submit that from the
statement of the witnesses Kamlesh Gupta, Vikram Singh, Sanjay
Gupta, Tipu Sharma, Dipender Sharma, Rahul Kumar Tyagi, Krishna
Dalai, Rishu Kumar Tiwari and Pradeep Kumar Pandey, the involvement
of the applicants in the offence in question have been duly connected.
There is overwhelming evidence against the applicants to connect them
in the offence in question and therefore they are not entitled for bail.
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 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
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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 applicants and to interrogate them. While
considering the bail application, the allegations in the charge sheet
against the applicants are the relevant consideration and the role of the
accused and also the prima facie evidence available against them. In the
present case, there is sufficient evidence available against the present
applicants that they are involved in the alleged offence and looking to the
seriousness of the offence, they are 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.
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
14reasonable 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 statements of Kamlesh Gupta, Vikram
Singh, Sanjay Gupta, Tipu Sharma, Dipender Sharma, Rahul Tyagi,
Krishna Dalai, Rishu Kumar Tiwari and Pradeep Kumar Pandey, it comes
that the present applicants are involved in illegal betting app of Mahadev
Online Book and providing OTP for online betting app and they also
provided the bank accounts for transaction of money comes from
Mahadev Book online betting app and obtained their commission. They
afforded huge amount of commission to the various persons for providing
their bank accounts, which were to be used in money transactions of
illegal betting app. From seizure of the huge items of mobile phones and
SIM cards, itself shows their involvement in the offence in question.
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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 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
16in 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 applicants did not know about the transactions of
Mahadev online book and the money obtained by them. Seizure of huge
number of mobile phones and SIM cards from the applicants and
statements of the witnesses clearly demonstrates their association with
the others, who associated with Mahadev Book and Reddy Anna Book.
Denial by the applicants itself is not sufficient to consider prima facie that
there is no mens rea of the applicants 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. 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 applicants.
12. As has been discussed hereinabove, it cannot be said that there is no
involvement of the applicants in the offence in question. Considering the
role of the applicants in providing mobile phones/SIM cards/bank
accounts and OTP and 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 applicants in the alleged offences. It is an organized
crime having various facets of its complexion, therefore, further
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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 applicants are involved in the offence, therefore, I am
not inclined to release the applicants on bail.
13. Consequently, the present bail application filed by the applicants- Bharat
Jyoti @ Guru @ Bhaskar, Vishwajeet Rai Choudhari and Atul Singh
is rejected.
Sd/-
(Ravindra Kumar Agrawal)
Judge
ved
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