Aurangabad, Oct 4:
In a bizarre incident, the rural police raided a farmhouse on Kasabkheda Phata to Devgaon Rangari road, and busted a high-profile gambling den, on Tuesday early morning. The police seized valuables worth Rs 1.81 crore including Rs 25.60 lakh cash during the raid on Dagda Farm House, said the local crime branch (LCB) inspector Rameshwar Renge.
The farmhouse is owned by Manoj Kumar Dagda and it falls under the jurisdiction of the Shillegaon police station. It so happened that the superintendent of police (SP) Manish Kalwaniya got information about the den and the involvement of high-profile persons in it. Acting upon the information, the sub-divisional officer (SDO, Kannad), Prakash Bele and Renge’s squad raided the farmhouse on Tuesday at 3.30 am.
The cops held Poonam Singh Thakur (33, Ranjangaon Shenpunji), Ganesh Raosaheb Pote (28, Nageshwarwadi), Kunal Dilip Kumar Bakliwal (37, Shahgunj), Abhishek Vasant Kumar Gandhi (33, Chikalthana), Sandeep Sudhir Lingayat (47, Bansilalnagar) and Vishal Suresh Pardeshi (33, Padampura) while playing ‘jhanna manna’on first floor of the farmhouse. The cops also arrested farm house owner M P Dagda (46, Cidco N-9, Chayyanagar). The police found cash of Rs 25.60 lakh in the possession of these seven persons. The police also seized five four-wheelers, seven mobile handsets and gambling material. The total value of seized material is Rs 1.81 crore.
Under the guidance of SP Kalwaniya and additional SP Pawan Bansod, the team led by Bele and Renge comprises of PSI Pradeep Thubey, Lahu Thote, Shrimant Bhalerao, Kiran More,
Ganesh Gangwe, Vijay Dhumal, Umesh Bakle, Dnyaneshwar Mete and Anand Ghateshwar. The police have registered a case in this regard at the Shillegaon police station.
According to the police sources, “This is for the first time high profile gambling den has been busted and the cops have seized such a large sum of money. Besides, it also got revealed about involvement of many prominent and reputed persons in gambling during the raid.