Feature
Terrorists dressed like ‘Sadhus’ may carry attacks in UP
Lucknow: All the districts in Uttar Pradesh have been put on high alert after getting intelligence inputs from Madhya Pradesh that terrorists dressed like Sadhus may carry attacks at prominent religious places throughout the state.
Following intelligence inputs, the Uttar Pradesh police tightened security in all districts today after they received information that “anti-national elements” dressed like Hindu saints (Sadhu) were planning carry out attacks at prominent religious sites and public places.
The Madhya Pradesh police on Saturday morning provided inputs that near about 17-18 men had been trained by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence in Hindu religious practices and shlokas to carrying out strikes.
According to a letter issued by additional director general of MP police read, “A group of 17-18 anti-national elements, trained in Hindu rituals, is planning a spectacular incident at prominent religious sites and other sensitive spots in the guise of sadhus.”
The alert comes roughly a month after Hindu hardliner leader Yogi Adityanath took over as chief minister of the state, and a day after UP’s anti-terrorist squad busted a suspected terror module along with sleuths from five other states.
However, the newly appointed Director General of Uttar Pradesh police, Sulkhan Singh said, he “won’t be able to comment immediately on a specific issue”. “But, I can assure you that we are capable of neutralising any threat.”
A senior UP police official said that police tightened security in crowded places as well as important pilgrimages such as Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi.
He further said, additional security personnel were deployed at Taj Mahal in Agra, the high court in Allahabad and its Lucknow bench, the assembly and secretariat buildings and other important government offices in Lucknow.
The MP police letter referred to a 2016 incident in which eight suspected members of the banned Students Islamic Movement if India (Simi) had also assumed the guise of Hindus to escape attention. The men were killed after escaping from a jail in Madhya Pradesh last year.
The document also cited the example of Gaus Mohammad, a suspected terrorist who was found living under a Hindu name, Karan Khatri, in Lucknow in March. “In February, intelligence agencies in the state were tipped off about four dozen terrorists sneaking into UP through the porous border with Nepal,” read the letter.
Some of these people, intelligence agencies believe, were specially trained by the ISI to fox security forces’ attention by their saffron clothes and knowledge of Hindu scriptures and practices.
The letter added “In the past as well, we have information about ISI’s “Operation Krishna India” in which the agency would send its agents in the guise of Hindus saints.”
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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