The Cyberabad’s Special Operations Team, on Sunday evening, raided a farmhouse on the outskirts of Hyderabad and arrested several high profile persons from the state and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for gambling. The police have seized INR 25 lakh and several high-end cars as first reported by TV9 Telugu.
The farmhouse is reportedly leased to the Tollywood hero Nagar Shourya family. As per reports in the local news channels, the police have issued notices to Naga Shaurya’s father Shankar Prasad on whose name the lease is registered.
As per details, the police have arrested the farmhouse manager Suman Chowdary along with several high profile personalities from Tollywood and Telugu politics. The arrested include TDP ex-MLA from Mahabubabad constituency Sriram Bhadrayya, one of the directors of the renowned construction firm Vasavi Group C.V.S. Rajaram and a realtor Maddula Prakash. Suman Chowdary reportedly visited Goa, Las Vegas, and other international casino locations to understand the working of casinos.
A case was registered with the Narsingi police station against Suman Chowdary and 29 others. Police also seized 33 mobile phones, three cars, two casino boxes and even a bank card swiping machine from the possession of the accused. “We are trying to get the account number to which the swiping machine is linked to secure details of the transactions,” an officer was quoted by the Hindu.
Police who were acting on a tipoff of illegal card games were stunned to see a mini-casino not limited to the card games. The other startling fact was that not only in this farmhouse, but the gambling activities were also being conducted in several farmhouses in the outskirts by Suman Chowdary. A WhatsApp group was created for each farmhouse with around 200 members in each group. Police are also probing the role of Naga Shourya’s uncle Babji who is responsible for the day-to-day activities of the farmhouse.
#Telangana was the first state to expressly ban online gaming including games of skill through statutory amendments in 2017. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & Kerala (only banned online rummy) followed suit in 2020 while Karnataka passed amendments tk ban online gaming this year.
— Jay Sayta (@jnsayta) November 1, 2021
Telangana has stringent anti-gambling laws having banned all kinds of gaming for stakes in 2017. All the accused were booked under the Telangana Gaming Act, 1974 along with Cr.PC sections 154 and 157 and produced before Kukatpally Magistrate on Monday and were sent on judicial remand.