Police raid houses of 37 rowdy-sheeters at 3 am

• Lethal weapons recovered from two houses. Warning parade at Hebbal Police Station
• More than 900 history-sheeters in city; 37 of them most active: City Police Commissioner

Mysore/Mysuru: In a concerted operation across all the 18 Police Stations in the city, houses of over 37 active rowdy-sheeters were raided in the wee hours of today and their houses were searched for weapons and other illegal materials.

The operation that began at 3 am was spread across all the Sub-divisions — Krishnaraja, Narasimharaja and Devaraja and coordinating the searches were the sleuths from the City Crime Branch. The history-sheeters were brought in Police vehicles to Hebbal Police Station at 7 am where City Police Commissioner B. Ramesh issued a stern warning to them to stop all illegal activities.

It may be recalled here that in the first week of this month, the Police has initiated the exercise of identifying rowdy-sheeters, known defaulters, goondas, criminals and extortionists and were preparing a dossier to enable the administration to banish them from their areas of operation. This was to prevent any law-and-order situation in an election-bound region.

900 rowdy-sheeters in city

These dossiers would enable the Home Department to banish the trouble-makers. During today’s exercise, more than 900 rowdy-sheeters were identified and 97 were listed as active ones. Over 37 rowdy-sheeters were found to be most active and today their houses were raided. Lethal weapons including knives, ‘long’ and swords were recovered from the houses of two history-sheeters.

Before the operation, the Police had procured search warrants from the Courts and permission to raid the houses to prevent trouble from these anti-social elements. Apart from searching their houses, teams also searched the cowsheds, sheep and animal sheds based on the reports that weapons are usually concealed there to avoid detection.

After the raids, rowdy-sheeters were brought to the Hebbal Police Station and individual information like contact details, activities, profession and means of livelihood were noted down by Policemen and were paraded before the Police Commissioner.

KCOCA, UAPA, Goonda Act

Commissioner Ramesh warned the anti-social elements to lie low and renounce illegal activities as they were under close watch. They were warned not to indulge in any illegal activities like property offences where land owners and purchasers are threatened, gambling, extortion, money-lending for a high rate of interest, matka and ‘meter baddi’ and dealing with narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

They were told that any illegal activity would attract lodging of cases under Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Goonda Act.

Later speaking to reporters, the Commissioner, accompanied by DCP (Law and Order) Pradeep Gunti, Narasimharaja ACP Shivashankar, Krishnaraja ACP S.E. Gangadharaswamy, Devaraja ACP N.M. Shashidhar and CCB ACP Ashwathnarayan, said that along with all the rowdy elements, people who have come out of jail on bail will be under scanner for illegal activities.

“Officers and staff have been told to keep a close watch on them, especially murder accused who are on bail, extortionists, habitual property offences accused, intimidators, drug dealers and gamblers,”  he added.

Casino at Chamundi foothill shut

Replying to a question by reporters, Ramesh said that there is no place for casinos to operate within the city limits. “Within a week of my taking over the Police administration, I got a phone call from the public saying that a casino was being run at the foot of Chamundi Hill. We raided the place and now the operations have been shut. We will not allow any illegal activities and will maintain vigil on the roads as a mandatory day-to-day activity,” he added.

Early this year, the Karnataka Government moved the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka High Court judgement that struck down the contentious provisions of the State’s online gambling law.

“The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021 criminalised wagering, betting, or risking money on the unknown result of an event. It was specifically required to suitably deal with the evolving situation arising from the ill effects of online gambling,” the petition said. The case now is in the Supreme Court.