Feature
Young woman poisoned party food over taunted for dark complexion
Mumbai: In a shocking incident, a young woman, taunted by her relatives for her dark complexion, a broken marriage and lack of cooking ability, poisoned the food served to nearly 120 people at a housewarming party five days ago leaving five dead, Maharashtra Police said on Saturday in Raigad.
Four minors and a 53-year-old man succumbed when they consumed the poisoned food late on Monday and at least 19 others are in local hospitals, including five of whom are serious.
According to an official of Khalapur police station, investigations led to the arrest of one of the invited relatives, Pragnya alias Jyoti Survase, 23, who has confessed to her crime.
“She was arrested yesterday (on Friday) and produced before a court on Saturday, which has sent her to police custody for six days,” the official told journalist.
As reported by media news agency on June 19, the incident took place in Mahad, in Raigad district, where local resident Subhash Mane had organised a vaastu-shanti pooja and a housewarming dinner for nearly 120 relatives and friends.
After dinner, many people complained of stomach ache, giddiness and started vomiting incessantly in the early hours of Tuesday. At least four succumbed by daybreak. Another person died hours later.
Young woman taunted by relatives over dark complexion poisoned 120 people:
Over 80 relatives and friends of Mane, who consumed the ‘dal’ laced with a snake-killing chemical, were rushed to local private and government clinics for treatment and most of them have been discharged.
However, police investigations over the past five days revealed that the chemical used to kill snakes was commonly used in Khalapur, which abounds with these slithering reptiles.
Accordingly, they trained their investigation on the persons responsible for making the pooja and dinner preparations or serving food, and found that Survase had admitted herself to a hospital pretending to be ill after the party.
Finding this suspicious, police interrogated her thoroughly, after which she broke down and confessed to the gruesome crime, and was subsequently arrested, the official said. She is a close relative of the Mane family.
He added that her apparent targets were her second husband, mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law, who were habitually taunting her for her dark complexion, her earlier marriage and lack of culinary skills.
But they escaped as they had already eaten that evening, even as the poisoned ‘dal’ was consumed by many of the other victims, five of whom — Gopinath S. Nakure, 53, Kalyani Shingude, 7, Vijay Shinde, 11, Hrishikesh Shinde, 12, and Pragati Shinde, 13 — were killed, he added.
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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