The Thailand Police unearthed a massive gambling racket, leading to the arrest of 93 people, of which 80 were Indians including Chikoti Praveen, a high-profile casino organiser who was earlier booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from Telangana.
The raid, carried out on Sunday night by the Thailand Police at a gambling centre of a luxury hotel in Pattaya city located in the eastern coast of Thailand resulted in seizure of 25 sets of cards, 20.92 crore gambling chips, four baccarat tables, three blackjack tables, ₹1.60 lakh, eight CCTV cameras, 92 mobile phones, and three computers. Apart from this, the officials also found a logbook, which had gambling credit records showing about ₹10 lakh worth of credits in circulation.
A large number of gamblers were found playing games of baccara and blackjack in the Sampao room of a luxury hotel, said Major General Kampol Leelaprapaporn, the chief of the Chon Buri police while addressing the media. “We received a tip-off that several tourists from India had checked into the hotel on Saturday and were scheduled to check out on Monday. We were also told that the convention hall of the hotel was turned into a makeshift casino for the tourists. Sitranan Kaewlor, 32, confessed that she was in charge of the accommodation and gambling venue. She said that the Indian tourists were charged 50,000 Baht each and that a room for gambling was rented for 1,20,000 Baht, which was open from 1 p.m. to 6 a.m and hotel staff were not allowed to enter the room,” said the official.
Sources said that Chikoti Praveen allegedly set up a gambling den with about 14 women at Asia Pattaya Hotel in Pattaya on Soi Phra Tamnak 4 in Tambon Nong Prue, Bang Lamung district. It was also revealed that people from Hyderabad and other parts of India were allegedly brought in for gambling. The group was scheduled to leave for India on Monday morning.
Earlier, the ED officials had raided Praveen’s house at IS Sadan in Hyderabad and his farmhouse at Kadthal on the city outskirts while probing the irregularities pertaining to FEMA violations. He was also arrested by the Hyderabad police in 2007 following a raid at a star hotel for organising gambling.
Meanwhile, sources also said Praveen’s aide Madhav Reddy, the prime accused in the ED case in Hyderabad, and Chitti Devender Reddy, chairman of Medak DCCB Bank, are also alleged to have been arrested in the raid. However, it is yet to be officially confirmed by the Thailand Police.
