KOCHI: On Sunday, police found an apartment in Chilavannoor that was allegedly used as a gambling den.
The apartment was found during raids conducted as part of investigating locations where Syju Thankachan, the accused in the Vyttila accident case that claimed three lives, attended parties. Police took a resident of the apartment into custody and seized several sets of poker chips from the flat.
“A hotel room in Thrikkakara, an apartment in Chilavannoor, a flat in Panangad and a homestay at Maradu were raided as part of the investigation. The gambling den was found during a raid at the flat in Chilavannoor. It had modern facilities. Those who used to gamble here were using poker chips in place of money to avoid the risk of getting caught by the police,” said Kochi police said in a statement.
Police arrested Tipson Francis (33) of North Paravoor, who used to allegedly run the facility. Police seized five grams of ganja from him. Ernakulam south police seized the poker chips and playing cards used at the facility. Police said in the statement that players at the facility used to pay the money upfront and played using the chips.
Kochi police said the accused would be questioned further to know more about the facility and the participants. Police had registered nine cases against Thankachan. He was arrested for tailing the Ford Figo car – that met with an accident in Vyttila, in which three persons (including two models) were killed – in his Audi on Nov 1. Police had invoked provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act to register cases against him in various police stations based on the visuals and chat history collected from his phone.
Thankachan was arrested for stalking the women and forcing the driver of the car to increase speed, which in turn led to the accident. Police had found videos and images of parties attended by the accused in which drugs were allegedly used. Sources said that the sleuths were in the process of identifying and tracking down the persons who were seen attending the parties with Thankachan. They would also be booked after confirming their role in the offences, police said.
