Criminals resort to gambling to recruit new faces

New Delhi: With criminals always on the lookout for "new faces" to help them get away with certain jobs, they often resort to tactics like gambling to recruit. The Delhi Police recently gate-crashed a gambling den in the Najafgarh area and arrested 10 people, including criminals accused in multiple heinous crimes. They added that these criminals wanted to recruit new members for their gang.

An investigator told Millennium Post that playing cards is just one of the techniques for criminals to recruit new faces and increase their hold over a particular area. "After winning a good amount in gambling, they will not ask their opponents to pay the money. Instead, they will tell them to commit crimes for them," the official said.

According to police, one of the accused identified as Najakat (28) was involved in five criminal cases, which included cases filed under sections of POCSO and rape whereas another accused Manish (28) had allegedly committed 20 crimes which included murder and was also an active member of the dreaded Kranti Gang.

Meanwhile, 28-year-old Pankaj was found involved in five criminal cases including snatching whereas one Sanjay Kumar was found to be involved in a murder case. All the arrested accused were found to be residing in either Najafgarh or Haryana.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said that they got a tip-off regarding the interstate criminals playing cards at a house in Roshanpura in West Delhi. "They were carrying weapons with them," he said.

A team under inspector Sunil Kumar was formed who led raids at the location and arrested the accused. "Inside the house, they were not taking any kind of precautions from COVID-19," an official said. The Najafgarh area of Dwarka has seen many gang wars, the rise and fall of various gangs and bloodbaths over territorial supremacy.

"There is a possibility that criminals, in order to expand their gang, might use other techniques but we are on alert and are regularly keeping tabs on any kind of movements by criminals," the official added.

In another case, Shahdara district police busted another gambling den in the Geeta Colony area. Three people were found involved in gambling through dice. "It was revealed that the accused used to connect all punters through WhatsApp groups and regularly send updates about gambling events on a day-to-day basis," said DCP (Shahdara) Amit Sharma.