Cockfights, luxury cars and Rs 20 lakh bets: 156 held in Bastar forest gambling raid
Police arrested 156 people and seized over Rs 20 lakh in a raid on an illegal cockfighting gambling den in a Bastar forest.Summary
In a major crackdown, police raided an illegal gambling den operating in the forests near Raiguda village in Chhattisgarh's Maoist-affected Bijapur district on November 3. The den, which had been running for years under the guise of traditional cockfighting, attracted participants from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh who arrived in luxury cars, including BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis. Bets often ran into millions daily. Acting on intelligence, police cordoned off the area and arrested 156 people, seizing over Rs 20 lakh in cash, 47 vehicles, and 12 mobile phones. Legal action has been initiated against all those arrested under gambling laws. The raid, one of the largest in the Bastar region, comes ahead of Diwali when surveillance against illegal betting is typically intensified. Officials are investigating how such a large gathering was organized in a remote forest area and how interstate participants were drawn to it.
(Source：Times of India)