Court discharges two booked for gambling, says no material against them

PTI, Nov 10, 2021, 10:16 AM IST

A magistrate court here has discharged two directors of an online company, booked for alleged betting and gambling, noting there was no evidence against them.

Ramesh Chaurasia (56) and his son Achal Chaurasia (30), both directors of Game King India Pvt, were discharged by a metropolitan court in 2019.

The prosecution had alleged that in October, 2018, the city police’s crime branch received information that online lottery as well as gambling racket was being run in a shop in suburban Mumbai.

A raid was conducted and three persons were arrested on the spot and computers along with cash and mobile handsets were seized.

One of arrested accused revealed the name of Chaurasia as the stall owner.

Upon, enquiry it came to light that the Chaurasias are the directors of a company, whose software was used for the purpose of gaming.

Accordingly, a case was registered and the accused were charge-sheeted under IPC section 420 (cheating) 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) as well as relevant provisions of Lottery Regulation Act and section Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act.

Ramesh and Achal Chaurasia then filed an application before the lower court seeking discharge from the case.

The court, in its order passed in June 2019 noted that the prosecution failed to prima facie prove common intention to commit an offence.

”There is no material in the charge-sheet to show that both the accused (Ramesh and Achal Chaurasia) are the owners or operating the said gaming stall where the raid was conducted,” it said.

The court said perusal of documents reveals that the duo had already resigned from the post of directors of the company when the case was lodged.

In such circumstances, both the accused cannot be charged for running a gaming house, it noted while allowing their discharge plea.

The court further said that the company was selling amusement video game machines and software in open market.

”It is a question of common sense that if a person is found gaming with a playing card, then the manufacturer of the playing card cannot be held liable for prosecution. Similarly, the manufacturer of the software as well as amusement game video cannot be prosecuted,” the court said.

The duo was arrested by Madhya Pradesh police in a similar case and later discharged by an Indore court.