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AAP’s Goa CM candidate grilled in land scam case, alleges harassment
Panaji: Thed Anti-Corruption Bureau of Goa grilled AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes on Monday over an alleged land scam that took place when he was working with the state government. Emerging from the two-hour interrogation session, Gomes, who also heads the Aam Aadmi Party in Goa, denied he was linked to the scam. He alleged that he was being harassed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government because of the “rapid” strides the AAP was making in Goa, where polls to the legislative assembly are likely to be held early next year.
“I have responded in detail to the questions asked by the ACB during the interrogation… This matter has nothing to do with me. This is nothing but sheer harassment,” Gomes said. He said calling him, a Catholic, for interrogation on the Boxing Day (the day after Christmas celebrations) also amounted to targeted harassment. Several hundred AAP volunteers were present outside the ACB office, shouting slogans against the BJP-led state government, as Gomes was being inetrrogated at the agency’s Panaji office.
Gomes and former Housing Minister in the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government Nilkanth Halarnkar were booked under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) in February this year. Gomes was then a serving bureaucrat. The duo has been accused of scrapping official acquisition procedure for a chunk of land measuring 30,256 sq mts in Margao in South Goa district in 2011, after initially acquiring it for a housing colony.
They have also been accused of altering the land’s zoning from orchard area to settlement area before handing it back to the original owner, thereby automatically increasing its market value. Gomes has contended that he was not even in office when the land acquisition was formally dropped by the concerned ministry, and said it is only the rise of the AAP in Goa that has rattled the ruling dispensation.
“The AAP is making such rapid progress in India. That is what is rattling them (the BJP). We are on a course that will help Goa in the future,” he said. Earlier in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of “victimising” one who “is known all over Goa for his honesty”. “People of Goa will give a befitting reply to the BJP” in the state assembly polls next year, Kejriwal tweeted, adding “Goa will vote for honesty”. Gomes, a former Inspector General of Prisons, was earlier declared AAP’s chief ministerial candidate in the state.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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