BASURI DESAI
basuri@herald-goa.com
SANKHALI: The palm-thatched huts in the jungles of Sattari are no match to the plush and well-lit offshore casinos in Panjim. But there is gambling in these huts and the turnover is almost as high as that in the casinos of Panjim. According to Herald’s ground-level investigations, Rs 1 crore is the turnover each night in the gambling dens of Sattari.
Night in and night out, gamblers bet on lakhs of rupees in these huts, which from outside appear to be the dwelling of a poor family.
Gambling activities in these huts start at 9 pm and go on till 6 am the next morning. Herald walked through the jungles of Sattari’s Morlem and Bhuipal, the constituency of Leader of the Opposition Pratapsingh Rane, who incidentally welcomed the first offshore casino in River Mandovi, to reach the cluster of huts in the dark.
Herald’s weeklong undercover operation led us to zero in on these spots (for details see box), where lakhs of rupees are gambled nightly, right under the nose of the police and other law enforcing agencies. The place is not accessible by road. One has to park ones vehicle on the main road and walk for almost a kilometer to reach to these places.
WHAT’S INSIDE: Cotton carpets, playing cards & Vishwajit Rane’s man UDAY PALEKAR
Inside the huts, a long cotton carpet spread on the ground across three metres has packs of playing cards lined up. The dingy place has just one or two light bulbs, and arrangements for tea are for the gamblers. One can barely see the face of the other player as around hundreds of gamblers stand around. But one face stood out, that of Uday Palekar, a political stalwart from Siolim constituency who unsuccessfully fought the Legislative Assembly elections against Dayanand Mandrekar in March 2012. Palekar was handpicked by the current Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane. He was busy shuffling the cards. His aides help him in the job as he takes care of every person who arrives there.
BUT GAMBLING IS VERY DEMOCRATIC: Brother of top most BJP leader protects the trade
A casual chat with the gamblers reveals the secret behind these dens in the jungles. The younger brother of one of the BJP’s top functionaries has been protecting this trade saving it from police raids or from the arm of other law enforcement agencies. This politician’s brother is in charge of one hut, while another protector of this gambling den is a person called ‘Bala’, who makes sure that the other three huts are untouched by the police (See box).
A CRORE A DAY: And the cops too are at bay
The dens are frequented by gamblers from Maharashtra as well as by locals. There is no way to gauge how much money is gambled here, but gamblers claim that there will be around a Rs 1 crore turnover every night from all four huts.
In a recent raid on a similar hut in Saleli village, Crime Branch had showed that it had seized Rs 4.5 lakh, but sources claim that Rs 17 lakh had been picked up. Nobody knows where the rest of the money went.
VALPOI PI SAYS HE’S ‘UNAWARE’: But Herald went, saw and ‘captured’
Valpoi Police Inspector Sanjay Dalvi said he was not aware of the illegal gambling activities, but added that strict patrolling will be conducted in these areas. All the dens are located at about 5 to 10 minutes driving distance from the Honda police outpost.
