New Delhi: Gambling racket. Police raid on farmhouse. Cash recovered. Arrests. Routine? Far from it, because the where of this tale turns all this on its head. That’s because the farmhouse in question—or the gambling den—is registered in the name of former Shahdol Collector and current Managing Director of the Madhya Pradesh Finance Development Corporation Vandana Vaidya and her husband Ambrish Vaidya.
A predictable controversy has broken out, and all bets are off on where this goes from here.
It all began weeks before a police raid earlier this week on a palatial farmhouse in the rural hinterland of Indore, a bust that ended with 18 arrests and the seizure of Rs 13.67 lakh, 30 mobile phones and two cars. For weeks before the operation, senior officers of the Madhya Pradesh Police had received “confirmed” intelligence inputs about the use of the palatial farmhouse for illegal activities. That the farmhouse belonged to an IAS officer was apparently not part of the gathered intelligence.
These inputs were shared promptly with the local police team at the Manpur Police Station. That didn’t translate into a raid; the racket apparently continued.
Until now, when it was busted by the Indore Rural District police on Tuesday. The FIR, registered at the same Manpur Police Station that didn’t act on the inputs, makes for some interesting reading.
According to the FIR, a constable reached the farmhouse at Awalipura village but found it locked from the outside. Not one to be turned away by something as dull as a lock, the intrepid policeman observed movement and sounds coming from inside the compound. At this point in time too, the ownership of the property was an unknown.
“Upon arrival, it was observed that the main gate was locked from the outside, though voices could be heard coming from within. Bypassing the gate, the team—along with the accompanying force—entered the farmhouse compound and, taking cover behind trees, observed the scene. In the light of the lamps illuminating the farmhouse veranda, several individuals were seen illegally gambling with playing cards and wagering money on the outcome,” says the FIR.
The long arm of the law swung into action; the game was interrupted and gamers taken into custody along with whatever seemed to be material to the commission of the offence, like mobile phones and cars.
That’s when the aftershock hit. IAS, it rumbled. The IAS officer has said she is unaware of any such activities at her property, and that this could be a case of trespassing. In a communication with the police, she has said that it was media reports that alerted her about these illegal activities.
“By the looks of the arrangement and presence of such a huge number of individuals at the place, it appears that it was a full-fledged gambling racket running from various places, which they kept on changing periodically,” one MP Police officer said.
The aftershocks continue. The Madhya Pradesh Police have suspended the local SHO, along with two other local personnel, on the grounds of dereliction of duty. The Indore Rural Police are looking for the caretaker of the farmhouse, named Ranjit Jat, to connect the rather large dots in the case.
Indore Rural Superintendent of Police Yangchen Dolkar Bhutia identified one Jagdish Rathore from the neighbouring Dhar district as the mastermind behind the entire illegal operation. He, too, has been missing, and police teams are out conducting raids to nab him, she said in a statement.
Senior officers in the state police confirmed that Vaidya and her husband will be called to record a statement, since the farmhouse belongs to them.
ThePrint has reached out to Vandana Vaidya for comment. This report will be updated if and when she responds.
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‘Unawareness’ versus ‘full-fledged’ racket
Sources further said that the couple claimed “complete unawareness” of the plot unfolding at their farmhouse in Mhow tehsil, nearly 50 km from Indore city. “They have said that they were not regular visitors to the farmhouse and that it was being looked after solely by Jat, the caretaker. Police teams are looking for him, and he is the key to identifying the extent and the timeline of this syndicate,” a senior MP Police officer told ThePrint.
Additionally, Vaidya informed the police that they had not been to the farmhouse since Holi and raised suspicions about acts of theft, illegal entry, and trespassing at her residence. An FIR on her complaint is yet to be registered, SP Bhutia further said, adding that it will be decided only after the conclusion of the ongoing inquiry to ascertain the facts of the case.
Other officials said that the other accused persons have revealed that it was only the second or third instance of the gambling racket at the farmhouse before the raid wiped it off their map.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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