Over 50 gamblers sent on judicial remand

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate sent over 50 suspects on a 14-day judicial remand for allegedly gambling over snooker and card games in different areas of the city.

Some of the accused were produced with their hands tied with ropes and others were brought in handcuffs by the Naseerabad, Kahna, Ghalib Market, Kotlakhpat and other police stations.

The lawyers for the suspects claimed their clients had nothing to do with gambling and were implicated in false cases to humiliate them. Advocate Malik Pervez told the court that his client was going to buy some food items for guests when he saw a police team raiding a snooker club.

He said his client stood and watched the police action, along with scores of other people who assembled at the scene.

Pervez claimed police arrested his client on the false charge of gambling. He contended some notables of the area intervened and tried to get his client released, but all in vain as police took him to the station.

Investigation officers told the court the accused were caught red-handed while gambling at different snooker clubs. They insisted the suspect was not implicated in a false case. However, the magistrate, after hearing stance of both the parties, sent all the accused to jail on remand.

Talking to The Express Tribune, suspect Nadeem said he was not a gambler. He was just smoking a cigarette at the snooker club, but the police arrested him. When asked if the other accused were gamblers, he parried the question. Sughran Bibi also reached Model Town courts to get her son, Faisal Mukhtar, released on bail. She accused the police of arresting her son despite the fact that he was not a gambler.

A police official complained that whenever the force arrests suspects, they are accused of trying to mint money. He adds when the police refrain from taking action, people say they have taken a bribe

Source: Dawn