It seems the bookies who decided to turn the Nathiba farmhouse in Solagam into a gambling den had their eyes on the local farmers who had grown rich overnight after they sold their precious land. Of the 71 people arrested by the police during Saturday night's raid, most were from the farming community.

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Solagam has many cash-rich farmers living in the nearby areas. These farmers have a reputation for throwing their money on wasteful pursuits such as gambling as they know no work other than farming. All that people like Dinesh Kalgi have to do is to provide a venue where these farmers, unlettered in the ways of the city, can put their money on risky bets and end up losing a fortune.

Kalaji Bhalaji Thakore's parents sold the family's land almost 30 years back. Today, Thakore is a labourer working in fields that once belonged to his family. He refused to let this reporter photograph him and said, "What is gone, can't come back. I am content that I can feed my family with the daily wages I am paid."

He is one of the dozens of 'displaced' farmers who once sold their land to 'land sharks' but now live in slums in Aungnaj village. Their houses are worse than those of poor farmers' kuchcha houses as they have no basic amenities at all.

The condition of BT Patel is not as bad as that but he too is a victim. He owns a six-bigha plot in Solagam but 15 years back he used to own 18 bighas and was a prosperous farmer of the region.

"Farmers sell their land for many reasons," Patel said. "People think that it's just the money. But the reality is that as the city grows and approaches agricultural lands, farming in these areas becomes difficult. Labour charges go up while fertiliser, irrigation and other agricultural inputs continue to be costly. Farmers who sell their land do so because they are left with no other option."

A local leader said on the condition of anonymity that farmers of the area who had sold off their land for huge sums of money, did not know how to invest their money. He said that these farmers were hungry for fancy cars, motorbikes, and other accessories of the good life but had no idea how to have a share in the development taking place around them.

"The fact is that once a farmer has sold his land, he has no work but a lot of free time," he said. "He can't do anything with his life as a landless person. So, he ends up gambling, drinking and sometimes indulging even in prostitution. After a few years, he becomes destitute and can be found living in slums in inhuman conditions."

A police officer who is familiar with the plight of such farmers said that the idea of running a gambling den in this area is always going to be lucrative as people have a lot of money but nothing to keep them occupied.

"Such dens are viable even when it's not Shravan," the police officer said "Bootlegging and even prostitution that have taken root in the area."

Many new schools and colleges have come up in this area but farmers rarely put their children in these institutions.

Eyebrows have been raised over the role of the local police too. How could such a gambling den be run without the police having knowledge of it? It is significant that deputy commissioner of police, BK Jha, didn't involve any official from Sola police station even in the process of registering cases against the arrested people.