TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (5) TMI 1166
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....ed Public Gambling (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Act, 1976}. 2. The instant anticipatory bail application is filed by the applicant directly to this Court as per the direction given by the Hon'ble Supreme Court by its order dated 09-03-2026, passed in Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 19892 of 2025, whereby the Hon'ble Supreme Court granted liberty to the applicant to approach this Court for grant of regular/anticipatory bail. As the case may be. 3. Brief facts of the case of the prosecution are that an FIR of Crime No 112/2022 was registered on 29.07.2022 at Police Station Mohan Nagar, Durg (C.G.) under Section 4-A of the Public Gambling (C.G. Amendment) Act, 1976, and Section 420, 120-B of the IPC and also for Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The Enforcement Directorate had registered the Enforcement Case Information Report (hereinafter referred to as 'ECIR') No. ECIR/RPZO/10/2022. Initially, treating the FIR No. 112/2022 of P.S. Mohan Nagar, Durg and the final report dated 29.07.2022 as a 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.....
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....under the control and supervision of the promoters. The investigation reveals that after the COVID-19 lockdown in the year 2020, the syndicate expanded substantially and generated illegal proceeds estimated at nearly Rs. 450 crores per month, out of which a major portion was allegedly retained by the promoters while the remaining amount was distributed among panel operators and other associates. Numerous bank accounts were opened using forged and fabricated documents for layering and routing the proceeds of crime, and several bank accounts were procured on commission basis for conducting transactions related to betting activities. The illegally generated funds were allegedly transferred through multiple banking channels and hawala networks to the United Arab Emirates. It has also been alleged that substantial amounts derived from illegal betting were utilized for promotion and advertisement of betting websites, including organizing extravagant star-studded events where celebrities and influential personalities were paid from the proceeds of crime. The investigation additionally reveals that the accused persons invested large amounts of the illegal proceeds in companies, shell entit....
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....No. 06/2024 registered on 04-03-2024 by the ACB/EOW, Raipur, which relates to the "Mahadev App" case. In the SLP (Crl.) No. 19892/2025, the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed an order on 09-03-2026 by which the SLP is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to approach the High Court for the grant of regular/anticipatory bail, as the case may be. Hence, this anticipatory bail application was directly filed before this Court. 10. Learned counsel for the applicant would submit that the applicant is a retired IAS officer and served 34 years as a Civil Servant in the State of Chhattisgarh. He retired from the post of Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries, Chhattisgarh, in May 2023. On the behest of the ruling party, numerous FIRs have been registered against the applicant by local police, ED, ACB/EOW and CBI. For the last 10 years, he has been facing litigation initiated by different investigation agencies. He would further argue that the investigating agencies, having failed to justify indefinite custody in any single case, have resorted to successive and overlapping arrests by reviving stale allegations pertaining to alleged scams dating back to the period 2019-2023,....
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....on'ble Supreme Court appeared disinclined to interfere with the anticipatory bail granted to the Applicant in the NAN ECIR matter did the State and the ED file affidavits before the Hon'ble Supreme Court alleging that the Applicant had "conceptualised, conspired and committed" various scams, including the Mahadev Scam, despite the absence of any credible material against him. It has further been submitted that even after transfer of investigation to the CBI pursuant to notification dated 11.12.2024, search operations conducted at the Applicant's premises on 26.03.2025 and interrogation of the Applicant yielded no incriminating material and no proceedings have till date been initiated against him, which according to the Applicant clearly establishes that the continued attempt to implicate him is an abuse of process undertaken with the sole object of extending his pre-trial custody through successive proceedings. 12. Learned Counsel for the Applicant has also submitted that the Applicant has been subjected to prolonged and successive incarceration for a period exceeding 23 months owing to a concerted and mala fide exercise undertaken by multiple investigating agencies acting in ta....
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....Mahadev Scam is wholly unsupported by any contemporaneous material and is demonstrably an afterthought introduced only to justify continued incarceration. It is submitted that although the Directorate of Enforcement registered the subject ECIR on 06.10.2022 and thereafter filed one Prosecution Complaint and three supplementary Prosecution Complaints against several accused persons, the Applicant was never named as an accused nor attributed any role therein. Similarly, in as many as seven FIRs and chargesheets which formed the predicate offences for the said ECIR, the Applicant was neither arraigned as an accused nor was any allegation levelled against him. Learned Counsel submits that even FIR No. 06/2024 registered by ACB/EOW, Raipur based on a communication issued by the ED under Section 66(2) of the PMLA, and the two charge sheets filed therein against 18 accused persons, do not contain the Applicant's name or disclose any overt act attributable to him. It is further argued that, after transfer of investigation to the CBI, searches conducted at the Applicant's premises on 26.03.2025 and interrogation of the Applicant in Central Jail, Raipur, also failed to yield any incriminatin....
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....ng racket operated by accused Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar and their associates through online platforms, generating illegal proceeds estimated at approximately Rs. 450 crores per month, which were routed through fake bank accounts, hawala channels and foreign transactions to UAE, besides being used for promotion and protection of the betting syndicate. 16. It is further submitted that during the course of investigation, the role of the present applicant, Anil Tuteja, has surfaced as a suspect and several crucial aspects relating to financial trails, digital evidence, conspiracy linkages and illegal protection money are still under active investigation. The investigation has disclosed that the promoters of Mahadev Book App secured protection from police officials, administrative officers and influential political persons by paying huge amounts of illegal gratification through hawala operators and intermediaries. The Respondent submits that the applicant cannot seek blanket protection merely on the basis of his past service record or retired status. Holding a high public office does not grant immunity from investigation where allegations pertain to abuse of official position an....
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....n deserves to be dismissed. 19. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the case diary and has gone through the material annexed with the bail application. 20. Having heard learned counsel for the parties at length and upon perusal of the case diary, FIR, material collected during investigation and the documents placed on record, this Court finds that the present case pertains to a large-scale and organized illegal online betting syndicate popularly known as the "Mahadev Online Book App" scam, involving allegations of criminal conspiracy, illegal betting operations, forgery, cheating, laundering of proceeds of crime and corruption involving public servants and influential individuals. The material collected during the investigation prima facie discloses that the promoters of the Mahadev Book App, namely Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar and their associates, established and operated multiple online betting platforms and applications through a network of panel operators, branch operators and checkers functioning across several States and foreign jurisdictions. The investigation further reveals that the syndicate generated illegal proceeds to the tune of approxima....
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....he 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." 23. The record further reflects that the present FIR initially came to be registered as Crime No.06/2024 at Police Station ACB/EOW, Raipur on the basis of information shared by the Enforcement Directorate under Section 66(2) of the PMLA pursuant to ECIR No. ECIR/RPZO/10/2022. Thereafter, considering the inter-State ramifications, complexity of the financial transactions and the involvement of multiple accused persons operating through organized channels, the investigation....
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....to lead to the making of the charges, a reasonable possibility of the applicant's presence not being secured at the trial, a reason-able apprehension that witnesses will be tampered with and "the larger interests of the public or the State" are some of the considerations which the court has to keep in mind while deciding an application for anticipatory bail. The relevance of these considerations was pointed out in The State v. Captain Jagjit Singh, AIR 1962 SC 253 which, though, was a case under the old Section 498 which corresponds to the present Section 439 of the Code. It is of paramount consideration to remember that the freedom of the individual is as necessary for the survival of the society as it is for the egoistic purposes of the individual. A person seeking anticipatory bail is still a free man entitled to the presumption of innocence. He is willing to submit to restraints on his freedom, by the acceptance of conditions which the court may think fit to impose, in consideration of the assurance that if arrested, he shall be enlarged on bail. 32. A word of caution may perhaps be necessary in the consideration whether the applicant is likely to abscond. evaluati....
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....arify a few points which have given rise to certain misgivings. 35. Section 438(1) of the Code lays down a condition which has to be satisfied before anticipatory bail can be granted. The applicant must show that he has "reason to believe" that he may be arrested for a non-bailable offence. The use of the expression "reason to believe" shows that the belief that the applicant may be so arrested must be founded on reasonable grounds. Mere 'fear' is not 'belief', for which reason it is not enough for the applicant to show that he has some sort of a vague apprehension that some one is going to make an accusation against him, in pursuance of which he may be arrested. The grounds on which the belief of the applicant is based that he may be arrested for a non-bailable offence, must be capable of being examined by the court objectively, because it is then alone that the court can determine whether the applicant has reason to believe that he may be so arrested. Section 438(1), therefore, cannot be invoked on the basis of vague and general allegations, as if to arm oneself in perpetuity against a possible arrest. Otherwise, the number of applications for anticipator....
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....cipatory bail, an order which serves as a blanket to cover or protect any and every kind of allegedly unlawful activity, in fact any eventuality, likely or unlikely regarding which, no concrete information can possibly be had. The rationale of a direction under Section 438(1) is the belief of the applicant founded on reasonable grounds that he may be arrested for a non-bailable offence. It is unrealistic to expect the applicant to draw up his application with the meticulousness of a pleading in a civil case and such is not requirement of the section. But specific events and facts must be dis-closed by the applicant in order to enable the court to judge of the reasonableness of his belief, the existence of which is the sine qua non of the exercise of power conferred by the section. 41. Apart from the fact that the very language of the statute compels this construction, there is an important principle involved in the insistence that facts, on the basis of which a direction under Section 438(1) is sought, must be clear and specific, not vague and general. It is only by the observance of that principle that a possible conflict between the right of an individual to his liberty ....
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....anticipatory bail. Counsel submitted that if anticipatory bail is sought before filing of an FIR the courts should grant relief, limited till the point in time, when the FIR is filed. In the second situation, i.e. after the FIR is filed, the court may limit the grant of anticipatory bail till the point of time when a charge sheet is filed; in the third situation, if the application is made after filing the charge sheet, it is up to the court, to grant or refuse it altogether, looking at the nature of the charge. Likewise, if arrest is apprehended, the court should consider the matter in an entirely discretionary manner, and impose such conditions as may be deemed appropriate. 37. Mr. Raval submitted that in every contingency, the court is not powerless after the grant of an order of anticipatory bail; it retains the discretion to revisit the matter if new material relevant to the issue, is discovered and placed on record before it. He highlighted Section 439(2) and argued that that provision exemplified the power of the court to modify its previous approach and even revoke altogether an earlier order granting anticipatory bail. It was submitted that the bar under Section 3....
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....cipatory bail, the court is bound to strike a balance between the individual's right to personal freedom and the right of investigation of the police. For this purpose, in granting relief under Section 438(1), appropriate conditions can be imposed under Section 438(2) to ensure an unimpeded investigation. The object of imposing conditions is to avoid the possibility of the person or accused hampering investigation. Thus, any condition, which has no reference to the fairness or propriety of the investigation or trial, cannot be countenanced as permissible under the law. Consequently, courts should exercise their discretion in imposing conditions with care and restraint. 40. The law presumes an accused to be innocent till his guilt is proved. As a presumably innocent person, he is entitled to all the fundamental rights including the right to liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Counsel stated that at the same time, while granting anticipatory bail, the courts are expected to consider and keep in mind the nature and gravity of accusation, antecedents of the applicant, namely, about his previous involvement in such offence and the possibility of the app....
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....fence, must be capable of examination by the Court objectively. Specific events and facts should be disclosed to enable the Court to judge of the reasonableness of his belief, the existence of which is the sine qua non of the exercise of power conferred by the Section. It was pointed out that the provisions of Section 438 cannot be invoked after the arrest of the accused. After arrest, the accused must seek his remedy under Section 437 or Section 439 of the Code, if he wants to be released on bail in respect of the offence or offences for which he is arrested. The following passages in Savitri Agarwal (supra) were relied upon: "24. While cautioning against imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the scope of the section, because, in its opinion, overgenerous infusion of constraints and conditions, which were not to be found in Section 438 of the Code, could make the provision constitutionally vulnerable, since the right of personal freedom, as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, cannot be made to depend on compliance with unreasonable restrictions, the Constitution Bench laid down the following guidelines, which the courts are required to keep in mind while deal....
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....tively more relevant to those made otherwise. Granting an unconditional order of anticipatory bail would therefore thwart a complete and objective investigation. 44. Mr. Aman Lekhi, learned Additional Solicitor General, urged that the general drift of reasoning in Sibbia was not in favour of a generalized imposition of conditions-either as to the period (in terms of time, or in terms of a specific event, such as filing of charge sheet) limiting the grant of anticipatory bail. It was submitted that the text of Section 439(2) applied per se to all forms of orders-including an order or direction to release an applicant on bail (i.e. grant of anticipatory bail), upon the court's satisfaction that it is necessary to do so. Such order (of cancellation, under Section 439(2) or direction to arrest) may made be where the conditions made applicable at the time of grant of relief, are violated or not complied with, or where the larger interests of a fair investigation necessitate it. Analysis and Conclusions Re Question No 1: Whether the protection granted to a person under Section 438, CrPC should be limited to a fixed period so as to enable the person to surrender....
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....tion is being carried out regarding financial transactions, illegal protection money and conspiracy linkages. The allegations raised by the applicant regarding political vendetta, fabricated implication and "evergreening of arrest" are matters requiring evidence and cannot be conclusively adjudicated at the stage of consideration of anticipatory bail. The material placed before this Court does not presently justify recording any finding that the investigation is wholly mala fide or that the proceedings are entirely without jurisdiction. Rather, the record demonstrates that multiple agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, ACB/EOW and the CBI, have undertaken investigations into different aspects of the alleged scam over a considerable period of time. Therefore, at this preliminary stage, the Court is not inclined to accept the contention that the present proceedings are solely intended to harass the applicant. 27. This Court is also unable to accept the submission that the applicant is entitled to anticipatory bail on the ground of parity. The law is well settled that parity cannot be claimed in a mechanical manner, particularly in cases involving criminal conspiracy and....
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....uch planning and deliberate design poses a serious threat to the nation's economy and financial integrity and in order to unearth the laundering and trail of money, custodial interrogation of the appellant is necessary. 80. Observing that economic offence is committed with deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless to the consequence to the community, in State of Gujarat v. Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal and others (1987) 2 SCC 364, it was held as under:- "5. ....The entire community is aggrieved if the economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to book. A murder may be committed in the heat of moment upon passions being aroused. An economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the community. A disregard for the interest of the community can be manifested only at the cost of forfeiting the trust and faith of the community in the system to administer justice in an even-handed manner without fear of criticism from the quarters which view white collar crimes with a permissive eye unmindful of the damage done to the national economy and nat....