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Uttar Pradesh police hunting for two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh police are looking for two accomplices of a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who was arrested last week for planning an attack during Ganesh Chaturthi, an official said Wednesday.
The terrorist, Qamar-uz-Zama (37), a resident of Assam, who was remanded to police custody, has disclosed that he and two others stayed at a rented house in Kanpur’s Shivnagar locality, the state Anti-Terrorist Squad’s Inspector General Aseem Arun said.
While Qamar, who is also known as Dr Hurairah and Kamruddina, was arrested on September 13, the two others could not be nabbed as they had left two days before the ATS crackdown, he said.
“We are trying to track them down. We have also taken the help of Jammu and Kashmir police and hope to nab them soon,” the IG said.
“We tried to understand his life history and found out that in 2008 he had gone to an island country – the Republic of Palau – near the Philippines. Before that he was very moderate but four year ago when he returned he was a changed man,” he said.
Qamar later went to Kashmir and sold clothes there, the IG said.
He went underground along with his accomplice Usama bin Jawed in June 2017. In April 2018, he suddenly surfaced posing in a picture on Facebook with an AK-47.
“We are trying to find out his activities during the intervening period till his arrest. We have come to know that he had gone to Assam, his native place, for 12 days and remained there in hiding, the IG said.
He sought funds from Kashmir and bought a smartphone with some of the money. He had talked to his handlers and came to Kanpur and made these plans,” Arun added.
Uttar Pradesh cops hunt for two accomplices of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist:
Qamar was arrested in Kanpur’s Shivnagar locality.
It appeared from his mobile phone that he was carrying out a recce, police had then said. A video clip of a temple in Kanpur was found on it.
The ATS was tracking him for 8-10 when it made the arrest. The National Investigation Agency and the Kanpur police were also involved.
Earlier, the police said Qamar accepted during interrogation that he is an active member of Hizbul Mujahideen and was sent to Kanpur in preparation for a terror attack.
“The terrorist had undergone training in Pakistan in 2017 and had joined the Hizbul there,” Director General of Police O P Singh had said after the arrest.
Qamar, who failed his BA third-year exam, has a sound knowledge of computers. He has a diploma in computers and typing, police said.
He is married and has a son who lives in Assam.
In March, the Uttar Pradesh ATS had arrested 10 people it claimed were linked with Lashkar-e-Taiba and involved in terror-funding activities.
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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