Karimnagar cops gamble with Telangana HC order, get six-month jail, fine

HYDERABAD: In a stinging verdict against police high-handedness, the Telangana high court on Friday sentenced Karimnagar police commissioner V B Kamalasan Reddy, assistant commissioner Tirupati and SHO Shashidhar Reddy of Karimnagar rural police station to six months jail for repeatedly raiding a resort in the town despite a restraint order. The court also imposed exemplary costs of Rs 10,000 as well as a penalty of Rs 2,000 each for civil contempt.
The court was hearing a contempt case filed by V Jagapathi Rao of Pushpanjali Country Resort at Teegalaguttapalli near Karimnagar who accused the cops of raiding them to check on card game despite a court order against it.
After pronouncing the order, Justice Sanjay Kumar suspended it for four weeks to enable officials to appeal against it.
In Nov 2015, Justice Kumar had ordered Karimnagar police not to interfere with the card game of Rummy (13 cards) whatever be the stakes in light of a division bench ruling that the playing of this game need not be penalised.
He also directed the resort to install CCTVs, record all recreational activities and preserve the data for a fortnight for police to check.
The CCTVs at the resort were also ordered to be connected to the jurisdictional police station and also to the police commissioner’s office. “If the gaming places are not connected to the CCTVs, then police can take action,” Justice Sanjay had said in his order.
Subsequently, 35 CCTVs were established in the resort and in all its card rooms, resort’s counsel V Ravi Kiran Rao said. The raids, however, did not stop, and the resorts acting president Jagapathi Rao filed the contempt case.
“The resort was raided five times between Nov 2016 and July 2017, the fifth raid was after the HC notice to police in the contempt case,” counsel Rao said. “The police were citing various reasons for their raids, each time with 50 to 100 cops. Once they said they have information on IPL betting. Second time they cited a hoax bomb call in the resort. Third time they suspected a disruption of the CCTV link to the police station for the alleged purpose of gambling,” Rao told the court.
There was neither any evidence of IPL betting, nor any proof to show that non-members were permitted into the resort. Members of the resort also filed affidavits to this effect, Rao said, adding that the police did not disprove the photographs submitted by the resort showing the existence of CCTVs.
“The police went with a huge platoon of policemen, some in plain clothes and arrested all those in the resort. This is a premeditated action by police. At one stage you say the resort did not install CCTVs. Now you are saying they are not working. None of the policemen will be let off from this case so easily. There is a limit to the police excesses,” a furious judge observed while sentencing the cops.