Two booked for betting on probable Sangli LS winner

Placing a bet of Rs one lakh on the probable winner from Sangli Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra and notarising it on a stamp paper proved costly for two persons who have been booked under Gambling Act, police said Sunday.

The bet was committed by Rajkumar Kore and Ranjeet Desai, both residents of Miraj and Shipur, respectively.

Sangli in western Maharashtra went to polls on April 23.

While Kore predicted that sitting BJP MP Sanjay Patil would get re-elected, Desai vouched for Vishal Patil of the Swabhimani Paksha.

The duo not only stopped at exchanging the verbal challenge, they wrote down the bet amount on a Rs 100 stamp paper, got it notarised, and even issued post-dated cheques to each other, the official said.

Pictures of the notarised document were widely circulated on social media.

Taking cognisance of the incident, Miraj (Rural) police booked Kore and Desai under section 12(A) of Maharashtra Gambling Act, the official said.

Besides the nominees of the BJP and the Paksha, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Gopichand Padalkar was also in the fray in the constituency.