Hotel manager among 20 nabbed for gambling

Though hotels and lodges have not been allowed to function due to the lockdown, several incidents of hotels illegally allowing men to gamble are being reported in the city. The latest to join the list is Hotel Simson on Poonamallee High Road.

Based on a tip-off that people have been staying in the hotel for three days, inspector Murugan and his team raided the hotel on Friday night and detained 19 men. The men were identified as K Mahendran (52) of Mogappair East, S Saravanan (42) of Vepery, K Murali (49) of Vadapalani, T Sundar (54) of Nungambakkam, S Durai (31), R Sathish (28), S Raj (43) and G Ravi (50) of Saidapet, V Jagan (50) of West Mambalam, G Ramkumar (30) of Ambattur, D Poperaj (56) of Chitlapakkam, S Parthiban (29) of Erukkancheri, M Sikandar (31) of Tondiarpet, T Sridhar (48) of Perambur, S Ragavan (61) of Arumbakkam, B Rajendran (60) of Valasaravakkam, D Gopinath (45) of Mudichur, E Parthasarathi (56) of Alandur and G Mani (57) of KK Nagar. The hotel manager, J Jijo (41) of Ayanavaram, was also secured for allowing the men to gamble. They were booked under the Gambling Act and also Epidemics Act for flouting the lockdown norms, and were released on bail.