Gambling dens in hotel rooms, farmhouses creating law & order problems for police

With the festival season approaching, gambling dens operated as organised rackets have become active in the holy city.

These (gambling dens) have increasingly became a major headache for the police as unscrupulous elements create serious law and order problem by indulging in firing and looting.

Patronised by low-rung political leaders, these rackets are being operated by the people with a chequered history, right under the nose of the police department. If recent as well as previous instances are anything to go by, they organise gambling parties, where stakes run into lakhs. These parties are organised in hotel rooms, marriage resorts and farm houses on the outskirts of the city.

Three days ago, several armed persons looted a gambling den in a hotel room located inside Hall Gate area. They allegedly looted cash to the tune of several lakhs from there and fled. The police later registered an FIR on ‘specific inputs’ as CCTV footage of the incident went viral on social media. Understandably, there was no complainant in the case.

The police arrested one of the accused, identified as Raman Uppal of Nawa Kot area, while among others booked were Amandeep Sharma of Jawahar Nagar, Chheharta, Gurdeep Singh of Harikrishan Nagar, Chheharta and Avinash Kumar of Gate Hakima area. The incident occurred on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

According to sources, this was the second such incident in the recent past. Earlier, some criminal elements looted a gambling den in Jhabal road area.

In November last year, a youth was shot dead and three others were injured when a group of armed persons tried to loot a gambling den in Katra Dullo area on Diwali night. The gambling was being organised in a residential accommodation at that time.

Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Dhillon said that whenever a complaint is received, appropriate action is taken. “It is wrong to say that gambling rackets were running under the nose of police. The city police have launched a drive against such gambling dens which were busted recently,” he said.