'...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

Gambler sells son to settle debt

Gambler sells son to settle debt
Sanjay Pandey, Lucknow, April 7 2012, DHNS:
Juvenile becomes drug addict in Moradabad

When members of the Child Welfare Committee caught 14-year-old Kishore at Moradabad railway station, along with 13 other children, all aged around 14, during a drive on Friday, they were unaware of his story.

The members were shocked to know that Kishore, now a drug addict, had been ‘sold’ by his father to a wealthy farmer in the neighbouring Budaun district to pay a debt losing a bet.

Kishore told CWC members that his father, who was a habitual gambler, had lost Rs 3,000 in gambling. “When the winner insisted on payment, my father asked him to keep me in exchange for the money,” he said.

Kishore, who was third among seven siblings, was made to work in the fields like a slave by the man. “One day I managed to flee from the clutches of my master and reached Moradabad,” he told them.

Kishore joined a band of young boys selling water in re-cycled bottles to train passengers.

“We used to collect the water bottles thrown by passengers on the railway lines, fill them with water and sell them again,” he said.

He and other children were all drug addicts. “The drugs, which they call whitener, are easily available at shops around the station. A small pack costs Rs 5 to 10 only,” he said.

CWC president Dr Vishesh Gupta said all these children needed to be treated at de-addiction centres.

“We are trying to trace Kishore’s parents and inform them about him so that he may be united with his family,” Gupta said.

He added that he had asked a senior police officials to take stern action against shops selling contraband around the station.

He also said such exercises would be regularly conducted at railway stations and other places.

Illegal Sports Betting Worrisome

Betting trend is worrying for the ICC after bust by police in India
by: Peter Lalor
From: The Australian

AN illegal Indian bookmaking ring has been caught taking bets on Saturday night's Big Bash League semi-final in Perth.

A special police squad in Ahmedabad arrested four people, seized almost $100,000 in cash, three laptops, 19 mobile phones and two televisions in the raid.

The police said that a computer engineer had been using the computers to simultaneously track market movements and betting on the WACA match between the Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Stars. It was the biggest cash seizure for many years, but detectives said that illegal bookmakers rarely kept their money on the premises.

There is no suggestion the Big Bash League match was fixed but the raid highlights a trend that is worrying cricket's head body.

Chief executive of the ICC Haroon Lorgat told The Australian last week that anti-corruption measures around international cricket had forced a "displacement" that led illegal bookmakers and their fixers to turn their attention to domestic games that were not monitored by the ICC.

Former Essex cricketer Mervyn Westfield, 23, is facing sentencing in an English court after pleading guilty to accepting $9000 to bowl badly in the first over of a Pro40 Match against Durham in 2009.

The young bowler had spent the summers either side of the match in question playing for an Adelaide grade cricket club and attending the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy.

The BBL match which the Indian bookmakers were targeting is a domestic match and does not fall under the gaze of the ICC's Anti Corruption and Security Unit, but Cricket Australia has set up a parallel process headed by Sean Carroll who was previously with the international body.

CA chief executive James Sutherland said when the new body was formed in November its job would be to monitor Shield, domestic one-day and Big Bash matches.

"There has been no evidence of problems in domestic cricket but we want to move proactively on the basis that vigilance and constant education is critical," he said.

CA spokesman Peter Young said last night that he expected Carroll would be investigating the bust in India.

It is claimed that more than $50 million is gambled illegally in India on every one-day match Australia plays -- considerably more is laid out on games involving the local side.

Westfield was arrested when his teammate, Tony Palladino, reported suspicions about his behaviour. The whistleblower said last week he did not think it was a one off incident.

"You'd be a fool to think spot-betting wasn't happening at Essex before, and at other counties. It must have been," Palladino told The Sun.

"They've chosen county cricket because it's not as high profile as international cricket.

"What worries me is there might be other cases that have been swept under the carpet. I've spoken to international players who've been approached several times in Asia. It's rife out there."

The Scorchers won Saturday night's match and in the process guaranteed themselves at least $700,000 by qualifying for the Champions League.

Spot fixing and black-market gambling has been a problem in cricket for two decades.

Three Pakistan players were jailed for spot fixing following a Test match in England last year.

Police said the bookmakers, who were working in the industrial centre of Kalol near Ahmedabad, had been operating for more than a year.

They arrested Kashyap Brahmbhatt, Mitesh Nayak, Kartik Khamar and Rakesh Soni in the raid.

"Brahmbhatt was taking bets on a county cricket match in Australia," a police spokesman told local reporters.

"Of those arrested, Brahmbhatt has a history of betting-related incidents. The three others were running his network.

Gambling addiction turns ex-executive to a car thief

Gambling addiction turns Bangalore ex-executive to a car thief
By DNA Correspondent

Police have arrested a former executive of a multi-national company on the charges of stealing cars—a crime he used to commit to finance his vice of gambling.

The accused has been identified as Yathish Kumar, 31, a resident of Magadi Road. Police have recovered six cars from him. Police said he was addicted to gambling in horse races and had lost a large amount of money because of it. He had borrowed money from several persons and had also pledged his car for Rs50,000 to a real estate agent.

It was then that he decided to make easy money by stealing cars. He started to work as a part-time driver and made duplicate keys of his two employers’ cars. Later, when the cars were parked in the owners’ houses, he stole them with the help of the duplicate key. Then he pledged those cars, got money and lost it again in gambling.