18 people arrested for gambling

Eighteen people were arrested after they were allegedly caught gambling inside two suites of a five star hotel in the heart of the national capital here last night, police said today.
Investigators recovered Rs 2.16 lakh and playing cards from the suites. The gamblers were booked under the Public Gambling Act at Parliament Street Police Station and placed under arrest. They were later released on bail.
"We had received a tip off following which two adjacent suites, number 620 and 622 in Le Meridien Hotel at Windsor Place, Janpath were raided around 10:30 PM. We apprehended 18 gamblers who had gathered from trans-Yamuna for the purpose of large-sale gambling," said Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) S B S Tyagi.

Those arrested were identified as Amit Yadav, Pawan Pandit, Ikramuddin, Jitender, Krishna Kumar, Raghav Bharadwaj, Vivek Tyagi, Mukesh Kumar, Shrichand, Sunil Kumar, Gyanender Kumar, Maharajuddin, Naveen, Kailash Kumar Sharma, Sudarshan, Sunil Gupta, Ashok and Dharmender.
These people were small time businessmen and included people like dairy owner, a naturopath doctor, travel agent, shopkeeper among others.
"Board money to the tune of Rs one Rs 1.10 lakh and cash worth Rs 1.6 lakh was seized from the gamblers. Upon interrogation, they informed that they had gathered at the five-star hotel as it offers them a safe hideout away from the scrutiny of the police and other law-enforcement agencies," said Tyagi.

Action as per law is being taken against the accused persons. The role of the hotel Staff is also being scrutinized as they failed to report such large-scale use of the hotel premises for gambling and other illegal activities, he said.