Gambling case: Prosecution’s failure led to acquittal of AAP MLA Angural
Deepkamal Kaur
Jalandhar, December 26
A complete failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt beyond the shadow of doubt led to the acquittal of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sheetal Angural and another suspect in the alleged case of gambling during the Covid times when curfew was in place.
Raid conducted sans warrant
The cops did not even take fingerprints of the accused from the cards or the cash confiscated from the spot. More importantly, they conducted the raid without any warrant and could not make a point about their assembly being unlawful in the days of the pandemic and amidst imposition of curfew.
Though the police confiscated two mobile phones of Angural from the spot, they still failed to prosecute him. The cops could not produce any witness to the incident. The cops confessed to have not done any photography or videography from the spot. They did not even take fingerprints of the accused from the cards or the cash confiscated from the spot. More importantly, they conducted the raid without any warrant and could not make a point about their assembly being unlawful in the days of the pandemic and amidst imposition of curfew.
The acquittal orders were passed by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Gagandeep Singh Garg on December 12, but the detailed orders regarding the same were available yesterday. A case had been lodged against Angural (then not MLA) and Baldev Raj at the Bhargo Camp police station under Section 13-A of the Gambling Act, Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act – 2005 and Section 188 of the IPC.
As per the story of the prosecution, Inspector Sukhdev Singh had on April 29, 2020 received information that about 10 men were gambling by playing cards at the residence of Davinder in Kot Sadiq village. Upon raid, 10 to 12 persons were found standing around a table and gambling with playing cards. The police apprehended 10 persons, including Angural, while two escaped. The police had collected 52 playing cards and currency notes of various denominations of a total value of Rs 2,00,590.
The police team also confiscated 10 mobile phones from the table. The suspects were found violating the orders passed by the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner with regard to curfew. The suspects were taken into custody, but released on bail. Mobile phones were got identified from the suspects, including two of Sheetal Angural.
During trial, suspects Kapil Kumar, Deepak, Sukhpreet Singh, Naveen Mahajan, Ajay Verma, Vivek Mahajan, Kirti Goswami and Davinder Kumar Gola admitted to their guilt voluntarily. Thus, they were convicted. One of the suspects, Atul Kumar, passed away. The trial thus proceeded against only two – Sheetal Angural and Baldev Raj – as they had alleged that recovery had been planted upon them.
During the trial, it came out that the cards were being played in a residential place and that the offence could be made out only if it was a public place. A superintendent from the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, maintained that no guideline was issued about the assembly of individuals in a residential house.
Though inquiry officer Head Constable Sukhdev Singh, however, maintained that on the day, lockdown was in force and the movement of the general public was restricted, the court concluded that no investigation had been carried out about the manner in which the individuals allegedly gathered inside the house. The duration for which the individuals had gathered had also not been proven.
Sukhdev Singh admitted that he did not receive any mandatory permission from the Illaqa Magistrate to search a residential place. The office of the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner maintained that no sanction had been given to prosecute the suspects, which was mandatory. All these factors led to their acquittal.
