Eighteen people, including a property dealer and a dairy owner, were arrested for gambling inside a five-star hotel in New Delhi. This is the first time that the police have arrested gamblers from a five-star hotel.
Officers from the Parliament Street police station made the arrest at Le Meridien after they received information about gambling going on inside one of the hotel rooms.
“Keeping up the ante and acting against illegal activities, the staff of the Parliament Street police station acted upon credible information and raided two adjacent suites (No. 620 and 622). Eighteen gamblers who had gathered in the hotel from different parts of the trans-Yamuna area for the purpose of large-scale gambling were apprehended from the suites,” said Additional Commissioner of Police New Delhi, S.B.S. Tyagi. Playing cards and cash worth Rs.2.16 lakh were seized from the gamblers, a police officer said.
During interrogation, the arrested persons said they had gathered at the hotel because it served as a safe hideout away from the scrutiny of the police and other law-enforcement agencies.
A case under the Gambling Act has been registered against Amit Yadav, Pawan Pandit, Ikramuddin, Jitender, Krishna Kumar, Raghav Bharadwaj, Vivek Tyagi, Mukesh Kumar, Shrichand, Sunil Kumar, Gyanender Kumar, Maharajuddin, Naveen, Kailash Kumar Sharma, Sudarshan, Sunil Gupta, Ashok and Dharmender.
According to sources, Sudarshan, a dairy owner, and Rajesh Kumar, a property dealer, had booked two suites for Rs.6,000 each on Sunday afternoon. In the evening, their other accomplices also joined them in the hotel. Half of them were gambling with cards in one suite and the others were keeping a track of money in the other suite. The accused also consumed liquor, cigarettes and food at the hotel.
The police are also scrutinising the role of the hotel staff as they failed to report such large-scale use of the hotel premises for gambling and other illegal activities.
“Action as per law is being taken against the accused persons,” said Mr. Tyagi.
