40 arrested for gambling at illegal casinos in Gurugram farmhouse

Hindustan Times
 
40 arrested for gambling at illegal casinos in Gurugram farmhouse
Wild Casino

The primary suspects used to invite people and host casino nights at their farmhouse and were making more than ₹20 lakh a month, said investigators

Forty people were arrested on Friday night for running an illegal casino from a farmhouse in Gururgam’s Sector 79, police officers aware of the matter said on Sunday, adding that ₹2.10 lakh cash, casino tables, and tokens were recovered from the suspects.

Acting on a tip, police raided the farmhouse and arrested the 40 suspects while they were placing bets, said investigators. Before raiding the farmhouse, the police formed a team that conducted a reconnaissance of the area to confirm the illegal gambling network.

Among the arrested suspects were three organisers of the racket, identified as Krishna Kumar, 54, Surendra Kumar, 57, and Manish of Ramnagar, 33.

According to Varun Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (crime), these people were the primary suspects and owners of the house. “They used to invite people and host casino nights at the farmhouse. They’d been gambling for over a decade and were making more than ₹20 lakh a month,” he said.

According to police, the Sikanderpur crime unit team was patrolling the area when they received information that the suspects were running the online casino from their home.

Dahiya said that a team kept a close eye on the house and obtained a search warrant on Friday. “The suspects were playing casino in the farmhouse’s drawing room. During interrogation, they admitted that they had set up the house to play casino games and used to place bets. We suspect the gang is also involved in a money laundering ring. We also seized a diary that listed transactions and customer names along with money transactions,” he added.

“It was also discovered during the preliminary investigation that the suspects were linked to an organised online casino racket. The gang members used to visit Goa casinos and were also connected there. Their strategy was to create a WhatsApp group and add regular customers or those who had references to other group members. No outsiders were allowed to join the group,” he said.

A case under sections 13A, 3 and 67 of the Gambling Act was registered on Saturday at Manesar police station.