MUMBAI: In a rare conviction under the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act, nine businessmen from the city who were booked for playing rummy for money in a room at the Taj President in 2011, have been convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment.
Police had recovered Rs 3. 25 lakh from the accused in the room. Metropolitan magistrate AV Kulkarni refused to let the accused off on a bond of good behaviour and instead sentenced them.
The room was raided after ACP Vasant Dhobale received atip-off. Dhobale, who retired in 2015, had made headlines during his stint for several late-night raids against pubs and restaurants in the city. Rebecca Samarvel reports.
Court backs cops’ version of ‘11 gambling incident
Sentencing nine buisnessmen to 6 months’ jail for playing rummy at high stakes, the metropolitan magistrate said, “It is a fact that very few matters reach the conclusion that is in favour of the prosecution. The accused booked a room in a five-star hotel for the purpose of gambling.
A huge amount was recovered at the instance of the accused in the year 2011. Considering this background, I am of the view that 6 months imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,000 will suffice the purpose. ”
In this case, it was alleged that on August 27, 2011, a little after midnight, the now convicted accused Ashwin Bhansali and Sandeep Chalke stayed in the sixth-floor room of the hotel and used it as a “common gaming house”. It was further alleged that the seven others now found guilty—Naresh Yeldi, Suresh Sabula, Ketan Shah, Shravan Jain, Ramesh Rathod, Manoj Jasani and Raj Phad—were present as participants.
The defence advocates for the accused, however, submitted that the police had simply filed the chargesheet and had not recorded the statement of the hotel manager. There were no independent witnesses, the defence said.
The prosecution examined five witnesses among whom four were cops and one panch witness present during the raid. The court noted that the best witness for the prosecution was probably ACP Kishor Nathu Gharte, the officer in charge of the raiding party who went to the spot with two other ACPs including Dhoble. Gharte submitted that all the accused were involved in gambling and that they booked the hotel room in the accused Chalke’s name.
The court also said that merely because most of the witnesses were from the police department, it cannot be said that their testimony was not believable.
