Betting rackets in Gujarat are turning out to be the best source to earn a few extra bucks for officials of the state police.
Compared to the Rs10-30 lakh bribe paid by a liquor den, a gambling den can pay up to Rs80 lakh per month
AHMEDABAD: Betting rackets in Gujarat are turning out to be the best source to earn a few extra bucks for officials of the state police. In fact, the bribe for ignoring the betting dens is so high that gambling has replaced bootlegging as the biggest bribe generator for the law enforcers in the state. In Gujarat, betting mainly revolves around the localised number gambling game — Satta — and the all American poker.
“For the last several years profits of the liquor lobby have dipped due to rise in raw material prices and transport cost. The gambling racketeers have thus become the biggest bribe contributors to the police in the state,” said a CBI official.
The official came across details of the nexus while interrogating some railway and central reserve police force personnel. “We wanted to know about the source of their unaccounted wealth. It was then that some officials disclosed the details about their revenue sharing nexus with the state police,” he said. According to the official, the state police allow the gambling business to operate from certain areas under their jurisdiction in return for a fixed sums of money.
“In upmarket areas like Paldi, Nehrunagar and Usmanpura gambling dens operate out of video game parlours where big bets are placed even on online poker games,” said a city police official. “Slums around Sarkhej and Sanand’s railway tracks are also major satta hubs where truck and bus drivers come to communicate winning numbers to sources stationed at the highway eateries,” said SOG sub-inspector, GM Bharwad, who claims to have nabbed many a racketeer from such dhabas.
Even anti-corruption branch officials note that satta generates enough wealth to lure even the most high ranking IPS officers in the state police force.
According to sources, at present a video parlour will have to cough up Rs10 lakh by way of monthly bribe for the police in Ahmedabad.
Discreet dens operating from areas near Ellis bridge, Chandola lake, Ranip and Kalupur can dole out Rs40 lakh per month by way of bribe to keep law keepers at bay.
“Often such dens fund foreign trips and property deals of officers,” said a source. In Vadodara, despite several police raids, clubs run from residences in Raopura, Panigate and those on the outskirts like Vatva,
Ajwa and Sindhrot make hefty payments to the district police officials.
Believed to be a hub for inter-state gambling racket, gambling dens in Surat are run from localities like Pandesara, Limbayat, Golwad and Udhna.
Each den operating in numbers as well as card and die-based gambling games can cough up to Rs80 lakh per month as bribe. In comparison, a well-networked bootlegger in any of these cities pay bribe a ranging from Rs10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh per month.
But the money often depends on his distribution network and how often the consignments arrives.
d_soumik@dnaindia.net
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