Gambling has been an integral part of society since ages. The ‘City of Destiny’ is no different and there has been spurt in different forms of gambling and betting, be it betting on a game of cricket, cock fights or the traditional form of gambling with cards.
City Task Force (CTF) booked about 115 cases in 2017 under the AP Gaming Act, apprehended 766 gamblers and seized cash to the tune of ₹ 43 lakh.
But of late, the CTF has been facing a new gang of gamblers and the men in khakhi are caught in a dilemma.
The CTF in the recent past had raided dens based on concrete information and to their dismay they found women gambling with cards in an organised format.
Most of the women, who were apprehended were from the upper-middle-class families and they were indulging in it in the guise of kitty parties.
The CTF raided about five such places in high-end residential areas such as Seethammadhara and MVP Colony and apprehended about 30 women in at least five different raids.
Basically, there are about two to three main organisers and they organise the kitty parties in the house of one of the members. “Lunch and snacks are provided by owner of the house and they indulge in high-stake gambling. In each of the raids we have seized cash from about ₹70,000 to ₹1 lakh,” said CTF ACP I. Chittibabu.
Sources said in some of the cases they were also found playing with men and it may not be an all women game.
It is learnt that a few of the women have also confessed to have borrowed money from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh, at high interest rate from daily financiers.
Amidst the new trend, the police teams find themselves caught in a sticky solution, as most of the women plead for not booking a case, as it might affect their family lives.
“In a couple of cases we left them after counselling but all the good words appear to have fallen on deaf ears, as we found the same set of women in another raid. And hence we are now going strict,” said Mr. Chittibabu.
Sumit Bhattacharjee
