Chennai: At least 22 people, including businessmen, traders, a film industry makeup artist and a racecourse employee, were arrested for gambling with cash during a police raid at a star hotel in Teynampet on Friday night. Police seized ₹81.58 lakh in cash, 25 mobile phones and a cash-counting machine from the premises.
Acting on a tip-off, a special team from the Teynampet police station conducted a surprise raid at the hotel. During the operation, police found a group of people engaged in gambling with money. The officers detained all those present and took them to the police station for inquiry.
The arrested persons were identified as Sekar, 66, a makeup artist in the film industry; Kabir, 44, and Ramesh, 52, real estate businessmen; Rajesh, 28, an employee of the Guindy Racecourse; Naganathan, 47, a real estate professional; Sekar, 62, Kalaiselvam, 62, and Prabhu, 41, construction businessmen; Manmohan Reddy, 42, Srinivasan, 43, Sundarraj, 33, and Nataraj, 36, textile traders.
The remaining accused were identified as Sekar, 66, Venkatesh Subbareddy, 52, Rajendran, 38, Gunasekaran, 31, Narasimha Moorthy, 30, Sekar, 67, Srinivasan, 26, Ezhumalai, 56, Jayachandran, 52, and Anandhan, 40.
Police seized ₹80,58,030 in cash, 25 mobile phones and a cash-counting machine from the accused. Investigators are examining the source of the money and the circumstances under which the gambling event was organised. Five of them were produced before a magistrate court in the city and remanded in judicial custody, while the other 17 were let off after an undertaking.
A case was registered against the accused under provisions relating to gambling, and further investigation is under way.
Selvaraj Arunachalam, widely known as Crime Selvaraj, is a vetera...
Read MoreSelvaraj Arunachalam, widely known as Crime Selvaraj, is a veteran journalist with over 31 years of experience in crime reporting across leading Tamil and English newspapers. He has covered historic events, including the deaths of former Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi, the IPL betting scam, and the Kanchi Seer Sankararaman murder case. A familiar face in the digital space, he has given more than 500 interviews across 30 YouTube channels, with millions of views on social media. He has also featured in international documentaries on Netflix and Bloomberg, speaking on high-profile cases such as idol smuggler Subhash Kapoor and conman Sukesh Chandrasekar. Beyond journalism, he has acted in three films including the Tamil movie DNA, trained over 200 budding journalists, directed short films, and authored the English crime-poetry collection Chilled Love. His contributions have earned him the TOI Scribe Award and the Humanitarian Award from former Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan.
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