TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (5) TMI 2106
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....mation Technology Act, 2000, which was registered against five accused persons, namely Alok Singh Rajput, Ram Pravesh Sahu, Kharag @ Raja Singh, Abhishek and Pintu. The ED had registered the Enforcement Case Information Report (for short 'ECIR') No. RPZO/10/2022. On the secrete information gathered by the officers of ED, the raid was conducted on the premises of other accused persons, in which it was found a set with 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 and Kabaddi, etc. Upon interrogation, the accused persons disclosed the names of two persons, namely, Abhishek and Pintu, who taught them the procedure of creating the IDs and placing bets in various sports through the Mahadev book. Initially, treating the FIR No. 112 of 2022 (Final Report No. 157/2022) of P.S. Mohan Nagar, Durg as Scheduled/Predicate Offence, the respondent/ED registered the ECIR No. RPZO/9/2022, which was re-numbered as ECIR No. RPZO/10/2022 vide corrigendum dated 07.11.2022 issued by the ED. In the said ECIR, FIR No. 206/2023 dated 02.06.2023 registere....
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....e panel operations. A panel has an owner and workers who are usually four in number. 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 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 kingpins of the betting empire and indulged in money laundering with their associates. In the investigation, it also came that the said panel operations....
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....e Mr. Harishankar Tibrewal, who is accused No. 24 in the third supplementary prosecution complaint, is also with associate of the promoters of Mahadev Online Book owned and operated one of the illegal betting website Sky-exchange. He was investing the proceeds of crime generated from the said Sky-exchange in the Indian Stock Market by way of foreign portfolio investment route. He invested a huge amount of proceeds of crime in Indian Stock Market generated from Sky-exchange with the help of Govind Kumar Kedia (A-46). During the investigation, it further revealed that Govind Kumar Kedia are also involved in the illegal operation of Sky-exchange and earned huge amount of proceeds of crime along with his associates Rupesh Kumar Singh, Pawan Marodia @ Banti, Sandeep Fogla (present applicant), Mr. Bineet Agarwal, who invested the said proceeds of crime in the Indian Share Market. During the investigation, from the digital device seized from Govind Kumar Kedia, it came that the present applicant Sandeep Fogla is having user ID "sfhkd20" and was also involved in the illegal operation of Sky-exchange. The statement of the present applicant under Section 50 of PMLA-2002 was recorded on 23.0....
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....int, which gives reason to believe that he is guilty in the offence of money laundering and the parameters were not fulfilled for his arrest in the alleged offence. All the witnesses are the official witnesses and there is no sufficient material against the applicant to proceed the case against him. The allegation against the present applicant is that he was associated with one Govind Kedia, who was allegedly closely connected with the betting app of Mahadev Online Book and involved in investing the proceeds of crime in stock trading. It is alleged that said Govind Kedia is managing the stock trading account of the present applicant, but there is no evidence that the present applicant is involved in stock trading with Govind Kedia. The applicant has been arrested by the ED with the allegation that Mr. Govind Kedia had received the proceeds of crime and the trading was connected with the proceeds of crime. From the prosecution complaint against the applicant, itself reveals that the total profit earned in 18 weeks i.e. from 01.08.2022 to 05.12.2022 will be Rs. 60,24,105/- and weekly income will be Rs. 3,34,672/-. The Kolkata police have registered the offence on 24.09.2020 and the ....
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....nst the other accused persons. The similarly situated co-accused Amit Agrawal has been granted bail by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in SLP (Crl) No. 15243 of 2024 vide its order dated 28.01.2025. Therefore, the applicant is also entitled for the same benefit as the co-accused person has been granted and he may also be released on bail. He would further submit that in case of Prem Prakash v. Union of India, Through the Directorate of Enforcement, SLP (Crl.) No. 5416 of 2024, reported in 2024 Live Law SC 617, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that the statement recorded under Section 50 of PMLA to the same investigating agency is inadmissible against the maker. He would also submit that, except the statement of Section 50 of the PMLA-2002 of the applicant, there is no other evidence against him. The ED has based its case on electronic record, the basis for reason to believe that the applicant is involved in money laundering and utilized the proceeds of crime, but the provisions of the Evidence Act with respect to the electronic evidence has not been complied with, therefore, the same is also inadmissible in evidence. He would also rely upon the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Supreme C....
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....ser ID, which has been given in their reply and was involved in the illegal operation of Sky- exchange. The present applicant, in his statement dated 23.01.2025, which was recorded under Section 50 of PMLA-2002, admitted that he was having said user ID of Sky-exchange betting platform and used to play illegal bets on the said Sky-exchange through Govind Kedia. From the electronic device seized from the house of Govind Kedia, the detail of the present applicant was discovered, and an Excel sheet was found, in which the name and ID of the present applicant is extracted, which was extracted from the deleted items. The present applicant has admitted that he was engaged in betting operation with the said ID in Sky-exchange through Govind Kedia. He would also submit that in the year 2020-21, the bank account of present applicant received huge credits from entities of his brother Sanjay Fogla and the present applicant shown the said credits as loan taken in his balance sheet, whereas from the statement of his brother Sanjay Fogla, it is clearly revealed that it was a fraudulent transaction shown as a loan in the balance sheet. He also received various credits as loans taken from various e....
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....hone and WhatsApp chat, it is clear that the son of the applicant was collecting cash amount from one Aditya Bhaiya and informing his father, i.e. the present applicant, about the same. The WhatsApp chat recovered from the mobile phone of the son of the applicant clearly demonstrates that the transaction of the applicant was made through his son. Despite knowing the same, he willingly involved himself in the activities of money laundering and thus committed the offence as defined under Section 3 of PMLA-2002, which is punishable under Section 4 of PMLA-2002. Having considered the sufficient material against the applicant, he was arrested on 24.01.2025 and prosecution complaint has been filed against him. There is sufficient material to draw a conclusion that he is guilty of the offence and therefore he is not entitled for bail. In support of his contention, he also relied upon the judgement of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 929, Pawana Dibbur v. Directorate of Enforcement (Criminal Appeal No. 2779 of 2023), Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy v. CBI, (2013) 7 SCC 439, State of Gujarat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal and others, (1987) 2 SCC 364 and submitted that m....
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....ring trial." 8. The Delhi High Court in its order dated 07.03.2024 passed in Bail Application No. 3807/2022 (Sanjay Jain Vs. Enforcement Directorate) after relying upon the observations made in the case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary (Supra) has observed in para 49 that:- "49. It thus, emerges that at the stage of considering a bail application under the PMLA, the Court has to bear in mind the following aspects: (i) Whether the accused possessed the requisite mens rea. (ii) 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. (iii) A positive finding that the accused had not committed an offence under the Act is not required to be recorded. A delicate balance between a judgment of acquittal/conviction and an order granting bail much before commencement of the trial is to be maintained. (iv) The evidence is not to be weighed meticulously but a finding is to be arrived at on the basis of broad probabilities with reference to the material collected during investigation. The weighing ....
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....ndirectly be derived or obtained as a result of any criminal activity relatable to the scheduled offence." 11. 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. 12. Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of Vijay....