'...Forgive us our corruptions, .....'

Corruption, crime and gambling are inextricably linked regardless of the nation.

'...Forgive us our corruptions, as we ignore the corrupt around us'

Jumana Shah | Agency: DNA | Monday, August 13, 2012

The award for the word of the fortnight easily goes to ‘corruption’. Last week, the way Mahendra Patel, aka, Mukhi, partner of gambling maestro Dinesh Kalgi, decided and announced to get arrested on a given day, went to the police station and returned within hours, leaves one totally dumbfounded. What’s more, when Mukhi allowed himself to be provisionally arrested at the police station, media photographers were stopped from taking his pictures by a senior police inspector. But a day later, when six youngsters were arrested for drinking from an upscale locality in the city, photographers were proactively called by police sleuths. Anybody who has passed by the Madalpur lane knows the nuisance Sudama Resorts (Kalgi’s massive gambling den in Pritamnagar, which was raided and shut down last month) has created. It is an obscenely loud structure on the main road that can never escape anyone’s notice, except of course the local police. I happen to live nearby. When it was a new construction, I was naturally curious about the fancy building and decided to venture in (after all, it said ‘resorts’. I mean, how bad can a resort be?). I was a teenager and at the time, the word Kalgi for me only signified a florist shop. Parking my BSA-SLR cycle, I boldly walked in, only to rush out in less than one minute. The dimly lit corridors, crawling with gold-totting tobacco-chewing men instantly flattened my bold curiosity. The point being, if a teenager can figure out, more than a decade ago that something wrong is going on here, how can the authorities not? Sudama Resorts is located about one km from Ellisbridge police station and right beside City Congress’s office. As I grew older and fully comprehended the meaning of the colloquial ‘Kalgi’, the gaudy ‘Resort’ became a taunt and testimony to shameless corruption by the police. Last month, finally it was raided; Kalgi and Mukhi sported namesake arrests. When we were pursuing stories, it was ever so casually tossed around that ‘Kalgi will be never arrested’; ‘they have the top IPS officers of the area well covered through hafta; etc!!! True enough, neither Kalgi, nor Mukhi are behind bars as of today. Doesn’t that speak volumes? Think about this – who cares about corruption? That’s the bitter truth. Let’s be depressed about it. http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_forgive-us-our-corruptions-as-we-ignore-the-corrupt-around-us_1727445