The court agreed with this contention and last month allowed her plea in the 2014 case. (Representational/File)THE MUMBAI Police’s Crime Branch has registered at least 13 fresh cases against ‘Matka Queen’ Jaya Chheda alleging her continued reign over matka gambling in the city.
Chheda was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013 by the sessions court, which found her and five others guilty of murdering her former husband ‘Matka King’ Suresh Bhagat in 2008. She was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in 2018 on grounds that included medical ailments. The cases registered are under sections pertaining to cheating and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act. Officials suspect her involvement in the running of Kalyan matka, one of the most famous lottery systems in the state, illegal under the Act.
Chheda has approached the court seeking anticipatory bail in all the cases stating she has been falsely implicated. In some of the cases, the police said they will not take any coercive action against her till the final hearing of the anticipatory bail pleas. The court is likely to hear the pleas this week.
While her anticipatory bail pleas are in cases filed in 2022, one of the pleas is also on a case dating back to 2014, while she was still in prison. In her plea regarding that case, Chheda was granted anticipatory bail by the sessions court last month. In that plea, it was argued by her lawyer, Taraq Sayed, that she was in judicial custody from 2004 to 2018 and the prosecuting agency was well aware about this and yet her custody was never sought to probe the case filed in 2014. It was also submitted that a chargesheet is filed in the case and probe is complete so her custody is not required.
The court agreed with this contention and last month allowed her plea in the 2014 case. It was also submitted on Chheda’s behalf that she is suffering from multiple medical ailments and requires treatment for it.
‘Matka’ as a form of lottery is said to have been started in the city by Kalyanji Gala, where three numbers of a deck of playing cards were drawn. People could bet a rupee upwards, predicting either one, two or all three numbers, winning or losing money based on their guesses.
Chheda’s former husband Bhagat was running the matka business in the city. In 2008, he died after a truck rammed into his car. It was alleged that it was done at the behest of Chheda as she wanted to take over the business.