The Bombay High Court has now quashed the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Matunga Police in 2019 where a Mumbai police officer was booked under the Gambling Act for his alleged involvement in cricket betting.
Details of The Incident And Arrests In Betting Case
As per the FIR and the chargesheet, on June 25, 2019, the police team had received a tip-off about betting being conducted in Dadar’s Rami Hotel. There were four individuals sitting inside the room, watching cricket between Australia and England and the police placed all the four under arrest. The petitioner and the police sub-inspector Dnyaneshwar Kharmate, who was accused of participating in betting activities through an online portal, was arrested the next day.
The other three who were arrested are Mikin Shah, 33, and his aides M.sh Singh (31) and Prakash Bankar (32), who were allegedly placing bets online on behalf of the clients. They were all released on bail, including Kharmate, who was attached to the Byculla police. He was suspended from duty.
Denying the allegation against him, Kharmate alleged that it was fabricated.
Lack Of Evidence Leads To Quashing Of FIR Against Kharmate
His advocates Ganesh Gupta and Jamal Khan during the trial argued that the raid and the search were done without any special warrant, making them unlawful by nature. Furthermore, Kharmate told the court that during the raid he was away from the spot in Dadar, at Sion, which he proved by his call data record.
The order said, “Even in the FIR no overt act is attributed to him, no incriminating evidence is found against him, there is no cogent reason to establish that he was betting.” It added, “There is no evidence to establish that he was involved in committing the offense under the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act or acting in furtherance of common intention with the accused.” The court then ordered to quash the FIR due to lack of evidence against the petitioner – Kharmate.
