Congress leader Chandrakant Kavlekar, the leader of opposition in Goa seems to have landed in a bit of trouble after it has been reported [1][2] that illegal gambling apparatus has been recovered in a raid at his house.
According to the reports, the anti-corruption had raided his house last week where it found thousands of Matka gambling slips and books inside an office present there. His house is located at Betul in South Goa.
This matter was subsequently referred to the crime branch which then attached the matka slips, documents and registers from the office. According to an officer, the seizures indicate that someone was running a full fledged matka activity from the premises.
The office as a result has now been sealed by the Anti-corruption bureau which just last week had also registered a disproportionate assets case against Kavlekar and had also named his wife in the FIR. The raid in question was as a result of this disproportionate assets case.
The whole matter was then scheduled for investigation under a 2015 FIR which was filed against an unnamed minister, police officers, matka operatives from Gujarat and also agents from Goa. The charges then were framed under the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, Prevention of corruption act among others.
Taking the investigation to the next step, the police today questioned Kavlekar over his suspected links with the illegal matka gambling trade in the state. According to the report, he was questioned for about 90 minutes to determine his gambling links.
He had come to the office of the crime branch armed with an anticipatory bail order which meant that he could not be arrested by the crime branch. In his defence Kavlekar has claimed that he is clean and has nothing to hide.