Not their first jaunt outside Gujarat

Gambling ring had camped in many places such as Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad

The group of 59 businessmen, who were arrested by Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths on Friday night, were not on their first trip out of Gujarat to enjoy a weekend of gambling and partying.

Police investigations revealed that Dinesh Shah, who was allegedly running the ring, owned and operates gambling dens in Ahmedabad. Police sources said that he went on such trips every weekend.

Businessmen interested in a weekend of gambling and partying had to register with an agent in Ahmedabad after paying an advance of Rs. 2 lakh. Every Friday morning, Shah would fly out of Ahmedabad to the selected city, nearly booking out the entire flight. He would then fly back to Ahmedabad with the group on Monday morning.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the ring had earlier camped in almost all the metros, including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

First time in city

The ring had also camped at Goa, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands several times. Police sources say that this was their first trip to Bangalore and the first time they had a brush with the law.

The money involved was never taken around the country. It was all handled in Ahmedabad. The system devised by Shah operated like a hawala system.

Gamblers who registered for the trip had to buy tokens by paying Shah’s agent in Ahmedabad. The gambling was handled only through tokens. The gamblers had to call up their associates back in Gujarat to deposit money in their gambling accounts. Shah’s agent in Ahmedabad handled the transfer of funds between the gamblers’ accounts, depending on how they fared while gambling. Shah is said to have been in constant touch with his agent.

According to sources, a junior Gujarat constable, is the right hand man of Shah in Ahmedabad.

Police suspect that he might be the agent who handles the money in Ahmedabad, while Shah organises gambling trips to other cities.

Recovering the money

“This is one of the biggest gambling rings busted in the city. Bangalore doesn’t have gambling on this scale, unlike in other cities. We will try to recover the money from Ahmedabad and also write to the Income Tax Department regarding the money gambled away by these businessmen.”

Raghavendra H. Auradkar, City Police Commissioner