2026:CGHC:8875 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MCRC No. 1774 of 2026 Anil Kumar Gupta S/o Late Shri Ravindra Prakash Gupta Aged About 57 Years Present R/o House No. 39, Sapphire Greens, Vidhan Sabha Road, Raipur, C.G. 493111, Permanent Address-96, Diamond Harbour Road, Khidarpur, Kolkata, 700023. ... Applicant versus

1 - Central Bureau Of Investigation Through Branch Raipur, Distt.

Raipur,Chhattisgarh.

2 - Director Central Bureau Of Investigation, Head Office Cgo Complex, New Delhi. ... Non-Applicants For Applicant :

Mr. Sunil Otwani, Senior Advocate with Mr.

Shobhit Koshta, Advocate For Non-Applicants/CBI :Mr.B. Gopa Kumar(Through Video Conferencing)

Hon'ble Mr. Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice

Order on Board

19.02.2026

1. This is the Second bail application filed under Section 483 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for grant of regular bail to the applicant who has been arrested in connection with Crime No. RC1242025A0002 of 2025 registered at Police Station – A.C.B./C.B.I. Raipur (C.G.), for the offence punishable under Sections 61(2) of BNS and Section 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

2. The earlier bail application of the applicant being MCRC No. 8727 of 2025 was rejected by this Court vide order dated 26.11.2025, on merits.

3. The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 30.01.2025, the complainant, Lalchand Athwani, submitted a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Central Bureau of Investigation, Raipur, stating that he is the proprietor of an establishment namely M/s The World of Beauty, situated at Station Road, Durg. It is alleged that on 28.01.2025 at about 6:00 p.m., a team led by co-accused Bharat Singh, Superintendent of Central GST, conducted a raid at his shop in his absence. On the following day, i.e., 29.01.2025 at about 7:00 a.m., when the complainant reached the shop along with his brother Naveen Athwani, he found co-accused Bharat Singh and other CGST officials present there. Co-accused Bharat Singh asked the complainant to accompany him to Raipur to meet his senior officer for settlement of the matter and thereafter took him to Raipur in his Innova car bearing Registration No. CG-04-NB-9911. Subsequently, a CGST employee, co-accused Vinay, reached Starbucks Coffee House located at Currency Tower, Raipur, where they met a person who introduced himself as Commissioner Mishra. The said person informed the complainant that a tax liability of Rs. 70,00,000/- had arisen pursuant to the raid conducted at his shop and ultimately demanded Rs. 45,00,000/-, out of which Rs. 11,00,000/- was to be deposited towards tax and the remaining Rs. 34,00,000/- was to be paid as illegal gratification. It is further alleged that bills for the preceding 4–5 months were prepared in the handwriting of the complainant’s employees. Since the complainant was unwilling to pay the demanded amount, he approached the CBI, and on the basis of his complaint, a case bearing RC No. 1242025A0002 was registered by CBI/ACB/Chhattisgarh, Raipur, against co-accused Bharat Singh and others for offences punishable under Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita read with Sections 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).

4. According to the prosecution, during the course of the proceedings, co-accused Vinay Rai was allegedly caught red- handed while accepting a bribe amount of Rs. 5,00,000/-. During the investigation, voice recordings of mobile phone conversations between the complainant, co-accused Vinay Rai, and the applicant allegedly identified as Mishra @ Anil Kumar Gupta were obtained in relation to the demand of bribe, and a transcript thereof was prepared, appended to the charge sheet, and submitted before the Court. Upon a careful and meticulous examination of the transcript, it is revealed that the name of co-

accused Bharat Singh also appears in the conversation and that he is addressed as “Sir” at several places. According to the prosecution, there exists pr