Saudagar gymkhana owner arrested

Vadodara: Karelibaug police arrested Nasrullah Khan Pathan, owner of Saudagar Gymkhana in Nawabwada locality of Raopura, which is identified as gambling den because of regular raids by crime branch and local police.
The accused Nasrullah Khan Pathan was booked for attempting to commit culpable homicide on Wednesday after irregularities were found in a probe conducted by Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), Vadodara Gas Ltd (VGL) and Madhya Gujart Vij Company Ltd (MGVCL). Pathan was already in police custody after being arrested during a gambling raid on March 10.

Police said that along with gambling activities, Pathan was also running a kitchen to serve food to the gamblers.

Police called the officials of VGL and on checking the connections, it came to light that Pathan had three illegal gas connections besides the two legal ones.

When MGVCL officials checked the electricity connection, it was found that in a residential property, Pathan was having a commercial connection. Police said that Pathan did not even have fire fighting equipment in case a major blaze broke out.

During investigation, when the police asked for proper permission from town planning department of VMC for the building in which the gymkhana was running, he could not produce them. Also, Pathan could not produce licenses of shops and establishments and food and drug departments. Later the police department also asked for a report from VGL and Vadodara Fire and Emergency Services about the safety of the building.

Police said that the report of the two agencies revealed that in case a fire breaks out in the building, it may lead to several casualties.

“The gymkhana used to have several people in the building at any point of time. If a fire would break out, it may lead to a several casualties. Therefore we registered a case against Pathan and arrested him in this fresh case,” said R A Jadeja, police inspector, Karelibaug police station.