Gambling den busted in Ahmedabad, 237 held

While Las Vegas may be a fair distance away, the lure of gambling and alcohol can be sated right here in the city. A team of the Ahmedabad police raided a club in the Asarwa area on Saturday and held 237 people for gambling there. In the six-hour-long operation, the police seized various items worth Rs4.91 lakh.

Officials said men operating the club are currently absconding while sources indicated that the original owner of the premises is a notorious bootlegger. The two-storey club, which opened in 2010, had become a hotbed of gambling activity, said the police.

Surveillance squads of Dariapur and Shahibaug police under F division assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Manjita K Vanzara, raided Sun City Gymkhana, located at Bhogilal ni chali on Civil Hospital Road in Asarwa, around 11 pm on Friday. There, they caught 237 men gambling, red-handed.

The men, most of them middle-income individuals in the age group of 35 to 60 years, had come from various parts of the state and the city to gamble there. Among those held is an income-tax department employee as well as a railway employee, sources said.

The police found card decks and gambling tokens as well as 211 mobile phones, four bottles of IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor) and 19 beers on the premises. They also seized Rs2.77 lakh cash, taking the total seizure amount to Rs4.91 lakh. Officials said vehicles had also been seized from the parking lot and the seizure amount was likely to increase.

The operators of the gambling den, however, gave police the slip. The latter are now on the lookout for Sun City Gymkhana’s secretary Kiritsinh Chavda as well as Parmanand Khatri and Rafiq Mansuri, said Vanzara. Another member of the club’s board is Mahendrasinh Zala, who is currently undergoing treatment, said sources.

According to sources, notorious bootlegger Kishore Langda, a wanted man, is the owner of the building where the gambling den used to operate. He is also a partner of the den, they added.

The club had been operating there after getting licence in July 2010.

Asked about the same, Vanzara said preliminary investigation has revealed that Kishore is the actual owner and the person who had rented out the building to the club. But, it is yet to be confirmed whether he is involved in the gambling den.