Online gambling racket busted
on Friday busted an illegal online casino at Kotla Mubarakpur in south Delhi and arrested four persons in this connection. Sleuths suspect the racket could be linked to money laundering.
The alleged mastermind of the racket, a woman named Neetu, is absconding. Police seized cash ₹35,800, seven CPUs, a laptop and a landline telephone set among other items.
Even though online gambling is illegal in India, the market is estimated to be worth a few thousand crore rupees. Only Sikkim has laid down regulations for controlled and monitored online gambling, police said.
“Four persons Deepak Chandra, Raj Kumar, Arif Khan and Prakash have been arrested. Deepak used to operate the gambling den, handle all the cash and maintain transaction details. We are now searching for Neetu” said a senior police official.
Police said for the past few days, information was pouring in about an online gambling racket operating from Kotla Mubarakpur area.
Acting on the tip-off, a team was set up and the sleuths zeroed down on the house on Friday.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Neetu was linked to an organised online casino syndicate. She had provided Deepak with login ID and password of an online account created on the website. The website had links to another gaming portal. Deepak used to handle the transactions and report to the kingpin Neetu
“The most popular gamble was on the game of Roulette where the winner was assured a return which was 18 times the bet money,” said a police officer.
A second CBDT official told HT that the I-T department is also trying to scrutinise more closely ‘cluster’ bank deposits made during the demonetisation period.
“Many cases have come to our notice where several members of the same family have deposited various amounts of cash between November 9 and December 30 (the window given to people to deposit demonetised notes in banks),” the official said.
“We will investigate those cases.”
One of the firms the Jain brothers dealt with was M/s Mishail Printers and Packers Private Limited. Bharti and her husband, Shailesh Kumar, are alleged to have been directors in this firm.
“Investigation revealed 120,000 shares of Mishail Printers and Packers Private Limited were bought during 2007-08 at a rate of ~100 per share by four shell companies,” a senior ED official said.
“The shares were then bought back by Bharti at ~10 per share,” the official told Hindustan Times, adding that one of the properties raided on Saturday, a plot of agricultural land near Delhi, was probably purchased using this money.
The raids on Lalu and his family come at a time when his ties with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar are fraying over the latter’s drift towards rival BJP and its presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.
On Saturday, the mood at Lalu Prasad’s sprawling home in Patna remained gloomy with anxious relatives and party workers debating the fallout of the raids.
Through the day, Lalu Prasad consulted senior aides and lawyers on how to tackle the raids that he termed political vendetta by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
“Laluji looked all relaxed and talked with us in his usual manner. The CBI raid is a deliberate attempt to demoralise us, but we would not be cowed down,” said Ram Chandra Purbe, the RJD’s state president.
But the party seemed to be planning for political contingency should Lalu Prasad and his son and deputy Bihar chief minister Tejashwi face arrests for their alleged roles in the land-for-hotels scandal.
RJD sources said the party chief was considering his elder son and health minister Tej Pratap as a replacement for Tejashwi.
For now, though, Tejashwi will not resign as deputy chief minister, they said. back to the British era.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said her government is ready to talk with political parties in the hills should peace return to the region “in the next 10-15 days”. But the Gorkha leaders refused talks until security forces were withdrawn and the demand for a hill state is on the agenda.
The chief minister indicated she was open to discussions with Union home minister Rajnath Singh on the situation. But “the Centre must cooperate … Politics and governance are different”, she said.
The renewed Darjeeling violence posed a twin challenge for Banerjee, who is battling communal clashes at Basirhat in North 24 Parganas. The Trinamool accuses the BJP, an ally of the GJM, of instigating violence in both places. “The violence in Darjeeling is a planned one. There are foreign links to this violence,” the chief minister said in Kolkata.
She accused the central government of “disintegrating federalism” by refusing to send paramilitary forces to curb violence in Darjeeling and Basirhat.
But sources in the Union home ministry dismissed the charge, saying West Bengal returned four companies each of BSF and additional paramilitary forces assigned for Basirhat.
The state government called in the army just a week after it was withdrawn from Darjeeling hills.
GJM assistant general secretary Bijay Tamang alleged the government has unleashed a reign of terror in the hills.
The BJP parliamentarian for Darjeeling, SS Ahluwalia, said as much. “Mamata Banerjee is refusing to come to terms with the people. The hill parties want withdrawal of security forces from the hills for peace to return.”
The hills dotted with tea gardens and popular public schools were on the edge since three Gorkhaland campaigners were killed and policemen were wounded in clashes on June 17. The government banned internet services the next day amid an indefinite shutdown called by the protesters.
People threw stones and brickbats as they fought pitched battles with police on Saturday. A Trinamool office at George Bazar was set ablaze and police responded with tear gas shells and rubber bullets.
MAMATA INDICATED SHE WAS OPEN TO DISCUSSIONS WITH UNION HOME MINISTER ON THE SITUATION