Only two pool parlours in city have police permission: RTI

Times of India: Nagpur: Saturday, August 08, 2015.

City police, replying to a query under Right to information (RTI) Act, gave names of only two pool parlours that have proper permission from the department.

In response to another RTI query, the police have said it had nothing to do with online lotteries being played in city. Though most police station in-charges privately say they know of a number of such online lottery centres in their jurisdictions, officially they deny their existence. CP SP Yadav said that such lotteries functioned as franchises and were considered as 'game of skill' and not gambling.

The licence department of city police disclosed that Underworld Pool and Snooker at Ambazari and Perfect Pool and Snooker of Rana Pratap Nagar were the only ones permitted to carry on their activities. The permissions were issued under 'Rules for licensing and controlling place of public amusement including melas and tamashas, 1960'. The licence department has also revealed that police stations took action against illegal pool parlours.

In 2011, city police had issued a blanket ban on pool and hookah parlours following kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Kush Katariya. The accused in that case Ayush Pugaliya was thought to have committed the crime as he needed money to indulge in his pool/hookah addiction. The ban was gradually lifted as police started overlooking the connection of these activities with growing crime despite occasional protests from social and political circles.

According to an insider source, pool parlour owners try to take local police into confidence with monetary considerations rather than seeking permission that requires certain legal parameters to be followed. "Rs 100 per day per table is the tax that needs to be paid whether there is enough business or not," said a source.

City police chief SP Yadav did not rule out pool parlours running illegally in city. "Police do not turn blind eye to any illegality but occasionally actions are undertaken," said CP.

According to a source, cops generally take action under Bombay Police Act against illegal pool parlours but the fine imposed is too paltry to act as a deterrent. "There is a need to seize tables, equipment and send the operators behind bars if illegal pool parlour is required to be stopped but such orders are required to be backed by senior officials too," said a cop on the condition of anonymity. "It is a fact that gambling with monetary benefits is also conducted around game of pools on many occasions," he said.

Maharashtra Navanirman Sena women's wing president Manisha Papadkar, who made a representation to CP Yadav against hookah parlours last week, said she was ready to take on illegal parlours and online lotteries as they were having negative effects on youngsters and others leading to shattering of families.