10 held for betting on IPL match at Priyanka Chopra's brother's pub

Pune Ten citybased businessmen were arrested in a late night raid on Wednesday for allegedly betting on the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad SH They had booked a private lounge at a Koregaonbased pub and were in constant touch with two bookies one located in the city and another in GujaratldquoAround 11 pm on Wednesday we raided The Mugshot Lounge a pub owned by Siddharth Chopra brother of Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra They had booked a private dining room and were betting on the match between KKR and SHrdquo said Shrikant Pathak deputy commissioner of police special branchPriyanka Chopra at the launch of the lounge PICTwitter mugshotloungeTeams from the city police the crime branch and the antiextortion cell recovered mobile phones and cash worth Rs 44 lakh during the raid The businessmen all aged between 21 and 26 confessed to placing bets on the match and said they were connected to two bookies Gujaratbased Amit Shah and Devang Mehta of PuneThe ten businessmen have been identified as Jatin Gudesha 24 of Isha Pyramid Society in Gangadam Ankush Gandhi 23 from Asopala Villa of Ekbote Colony Darshan Nibjiya 23 resident of Veer Bharat Society Raj Oswal 23 Harsh Porwal 21 and Yogesh Oswal 25 residents of Adinath Society Rahul Lodha 23 of Salisbury Park Shreyas Jain 26 Bhavik Jain 22 and Siddharth Jain 24 residents of Shukrawar PethA case has been registered against them under relevant sections of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling ActWere not at fault FamilySiddharth Choprarsquos mother Madhu said the family owns the pub but the daytoday operations are run by others ldquoWe are unaware of the incident Siddharth has not been to Pune in the past month It is clearly written there that betting and illegal activities are not allowed It is impossible for any such activity to take place there There are cameras installed all over the place It is a successful place So people may be giving tipoffs This betting could not have happened from our side People could have been doing this on the phone Betting takes place through phones We will need to find out what exactly happenedrdquoInnocent says lawyerSeoul Shah the businessmenrsquos lawyer claimed that the 10 have been falsely implicated in the case ldquoThey were just watching the match and the police arrested them on mere suspicion The police have just seized their electronic gadgets like mobile phones and iPads besides cash The sections under which they have been booked are bailable They are ready to cooperate with the investigationrdquomdash Inputs from Shaheen ParkarPunersquos publoungeSituated on the third floor of Jewel Square Mall in Koregoan Park the Mugshot Lounge was inaugurated in September 2014 by Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra who also turned bartender for a day Her brother Siddharth Chopra launched the lavish publounge along with his Nagpurbased business partner Yug Tuli It was embroiled in a bitter dispute with a partner restaurant over space and licence This had forced both the businesses to close down temporarily in November 2014 It was reopened in February last yearNo case has been registered against the owners as there is no prima facie evidence of them being involved in the bettingldquoA probe is on and if we come to know that the pub was also involved in this illegal activity we will book them toordquo said Shrikant Pathak DCP special branchManager saysLounge manager Salman said ldquoWe have nothing to do with the raid All the the customers who were arrested had booked a table with us and came in around 9 pm on Wednesday We can neither predict the intentions of our customers nor can we keep an eye on each and everyonerdquo