Apart from the usual places, cops are also targeting the gambling going on at homes.
The Gujarat University police (GU) arrested five housewives allegedly for gambling late on Friday night. These women were playing 'Teen Patti' at the residence of one of the accused in Naranpura. A jealous neighbour reportedly tipped off the police who caught the women red-handed.
The arrested women have been identified as Saroj Parekh, 64, Meena Udani, 55, Rekha Sanghvi and Neeru Belani (both 65) and Ami Solanki, 27. The police recovered cash and mobile phones worth more than Rs19,000 from these gamblers. The cops said that they were caught playing in a flat owned by Saroj Parekh at 502, Ganesh Complex in Naranpura.
With this arrest in the ongoing month of Shraavan, the police are now on the hunt for many more, focusing especially on innocuous homes-turned-make-shift dens, to find gamblers as well as to curb this illegal activity. However, cops confide that residences are not raided unless they receive specific tip-offs, mostly from over-zealous neighbours.
Gambling activities shoot up particularly with the approaching auspicious days on Janmashtami and its eve (also known as saatam and aatham), when many revelers indulge in gambling. Many gamble at their homes while others organise 'tables' on the outskirts of city in farmhouses. Although farmhouses are on the cops' radar, only neighbours' complaints lead them to raid on specific residences.
"We don't raid particular houses unless we receive complaints by the neighbours. Since gambling is like a tradition and a petty crime we don't bother people much. However, we will not excuse anyone for hosting organised gambling even for a day," said a senior cop, who did not wish to be named.
On the other hand, a notification from the police commissioner has also empowered police sub-inspectors to raid individual houses with substantial evidence of gambling activities. According to deputy commissioner of police, zone-1, Sandeep Singh, police will up their vigilance in view of saatam and aatham.
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