13 held as Delhi Police cracks down on liquor, gambling, prostitution rackets

New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) The Delhi Police's Crime Branch is cracking down on illegal activities such as trade of illicit liquor, gambling, and prostitution in the area of Hazrat Nizamuddin and has arrested 13 people in this regard, an official said here on Sunday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Monika Bhardwaj said various raids were conducted by the staff of Inter-State Cell, Chanakya Puri and a total of 13 accused have been arrested under the Excise, Gambling, and ITP Act from October 6 to October 8.

Acting on a tip-off regarding the trade of illicit liquor, raids were conducted in the area of Madrasi Camp, Jangpura-B, and Nizamuddin jhuggis, following which one team apprehended an accused identified as K. Mani. During the search of his home, over 13 cartons of illicit liquor were recovered. Another team raided the same area and 15 cartons of illicit liquor were also recovered from another jhuggi of an accused identified as Anand.

In the second operation to curb the menace of gambling, the police conducted raids in front of Humayun's tomb, under the Barapulla flyover, in DDA Park, Hazrat Nizamuddin, where betting on games named Dishawar, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gali were going on.

Five accused identified as Mohd Irshad, Mohd Jahangir, Mohd Kalam, Furkan Ali, and Mohd Javed -- were arrested from the spot. Cash amounting to Rs 31,780, betting slips, and acalculator was recovered from the possession of the accused.

In the crackdown on the flesh trade in the Capital, the police got a secret input of a prostitution racket being run in hotels of the Nizamuddin area. Acting on this, a trap was laid in Hotel Kashi Residency, Nizamuddin with the help of three decoy customers. Following the trap, three women along with a taxi driver, pimp, and a hotel manager were arrested in the case.

The accused are identified as Mohd Wasim, Nishan Chhetri, Tinku Saini, and four women. A car, Rs 20,000 cash, and some incriminating material was recovered from their possession.