SOG-2 and Sigra Police Arrest 47 After Rathyatra Gambling Raid; ₹21.11 Lakh Seized

A joint team of SOG-2 and Sigra police cordoned a closed house named Kusumkunj in Rathyatra on Wednesday evening, 16 September 2026, and detained 47 people in an alleged gambling raid. Police say the operation followed multi-day recce and was led by DCP (Crime) Neetu Kadian. Officers allege card play was under way in air-conditioned rooms when exits were restricted. Cash recovered from the gambling board stood at ₹19,53,455; personal search added ₹1,58,510, taking the total to ₹21,11,965. Fifty-three mobile phones, 52 playing cards and 10 new packs were also seized.

The case has been booked under Sections 3 and 4 of the Public Gambling Act. Police name Roshan Kumar, Rafiq Khan and Vijay Jaiswal among alleged organisers said to have collected daily payments at the premises. Documents recovered at the scene — a driving licence, PAN and bank cards — stand in the name of Vishal Singh, described in the probe narrative as the alleged landlord and operator who charged a commission of about 10 percent. A search for him was reported as continuing; this desk does not place him among the 47 already produced in court.

After medical examination, the detained persons were produced before ACJM-4 on Thursday night. The court granted conditional bail on a ₹20,000 bond each. The accused, police say, include residents of Varanasi and neighbouring districts such as Bhadohi, Chandauli, Azamgarh, Sonbhadra, Prayagraj and Mirzapur. That geographic spread fits the police claim of a house that pulled players from beyond city limits rather than a purely neighbourhood sitting.

Sigra SHO Shivkant Mishra said the investigation is continuing, including examination of phone call-detail records. Police allege stakes of ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 per bet and claim the setup ran around the clock. Those figures remain part of the police account and have not been tested at trial. CDR work, if it holds, will show who called whom before and during the sitting; until then, the seizure list and the 47 names on the bail bonds are the hard stamps.

Rathyatra sits inside Sigra police-station limits, a dense residential stretch where a closed multi-storey house can hide activity behind grilled windows. The cordon-and-search pattern described by officers — recce first, then a sudden evening entry — matches how SOG-2 and local stations have run other gambling cases this season. What stands out here is the cash volume paired with a large single-room arrest count.

Every role named above is alleged. Cash on a board and cards on a table do not equal a finished conviction. Bail on a bond is a court process, not an endorsement of innocence or guilt. Readers should treat the recovered documents linked to Vishal Singh as seizure evidence under probe, not as proof that he has already been arrested and produced with the 47. If and when he is traced and produced, that will be a separate court stamp.

For Sigra residents who watched police vans leave Rathyatra late on Wednesday, the record is clear: 47 detained, more than ₹21 lakh seized, bail granted the next night, and one named landlord still sought. For the crime branch, the next steps sit in CDR analysis and the continuing search.