New Delhi: A police raid was conducted on an IAS officer’s farmhouse in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, for alleged gambling, and during the raid, officials recovered Rs 13.68 lakh in cash, 30 mobile phones, and playing cards, with total seized assets valued at nearly ₹28.67 lakh. The farmhouse is allegedly owned by IAS officer Vandana Vaidya and her family, who is currently serving as Managing Director of the State government’s Finance Development Corporation.
Police received a tip-off and acted on it, resulting in the arrest of 18 people at the scene, while six others managed to escape from the spot.
The detainees are from different parts of the state. During the raid, the main gate of the farmhouse was locked, and people were gambling inside the venue. The main accused, Jagdish Rathod, alias Kubda, and the caretaker of the farmhouse, Ranjeet Chaudhary, were among six others who fled from the spot.
Police have registered a case against the accused under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Gambling Act.
Following the police raid, IAS officer Vaidya requested officials to register a separate criminal case against the accused, as she wrote a letter informing the authorities that several unknown individuals entered her property, and she alleged that theft also took place from her farmhouse.
The Superintendent of Police (Rural) Yangchen Dolkar Bhutia stated that after Vaidya’s complaint, police began the investigation to find out how the accused entered the property.
Additionally, Bhutia confirmed that several officers were also suspended in connection with the matter. The station house officer of Manpur police station, the sub-inspector in charge of the case, and an assistant sub-inspector have been suspended following the raid.