Wardha: Police raid card gambling den at Satish Huke's house, thirteen held

A team led by Inspector Nageshkumar Chatarkar of Wardha city police station raided a card gambling den running inside a house near Santagar Buddha Vihar in Master Colony on September 13, 2026. The team included Sub-Inspector Sharad Gaikwad, Assistant Sub-Inspector Rajendra Hadke, and Constables Chetan Dubey, Rajesh Dal and Santosh Ighare. Two panchas, or independent witnesses, accompanied the police: Rajesh Sharma, who runs a paan stall and lives at Bajaj Chowk, Wardha, and Prateek Babhulkar of Selukate tehsil, Wardha.

The police team and the panchas reached Master Colony in private vehicles, parked them by the roadside and walked to the house of Satish Huke, a resident of Ward No. 5. A moped and an autorickshaw were parked outside the house. The door was shut, but voices could be heard from inside calling out bets, indicating that a card gambling game was in progress. The panchas and police staff surrounded the house and called out to Satish Huke, at which a man opened the door from inside.

Thirteen people in all were caught inside gambling on cards with money at stake. The police and panchas identified themselves and took down everyone's names and addresses. Cash of Rs 2,700 that was staked and 52 playing cards worth Rs 100 were recovered. On searching everyone, police recovered Rs 2,200 in cash, an old electric autorickshaw (registration MH 32-AB-2030, valued at Rs 2 lakh) and an old Vivo mobile phone (worth Rs 10,000) from Satish Vitthal Huke (50), a resident of Master Colony Ward 5, Sawangi Meghe. Ramesh Kashinath Kamble (42) was found with Rs 800, an Activa moped (worth Rs 60,000) and a mobile phone (worth Rs 15,000). Purushottam Digambar Waware (51) had Rs 1,900, a Hero Deo moped (worth Rs 50,000) and an Oppo mobile phone (worth Rs 10,000) seized.

Police also recovered Rs 450, a Pulsar motorcycle (worth Rs 80,000) and a mobile phone (worth Rs 10,000) from Suraj Gautam Chhahande (31); a Suzuki Access moped (worth Rs 60,000) and a mobile phone (worth Rs 10,000) from Mayur Devanand Dhongade (30); Rs 550 and a Hero Deo moped (worth Rs 50,000) from Sandesh Roshan Thul (26); Rs 1,000 from Sushil Digambar Vani (34); Rs 480 from Pralay Ashok Maske (32); Rs 700 from Sunil alias Kanth or Bahapur Sardar (42); Rs 1,700 and a OnePlus mobile phone (worth Rs 20,000) from Tejas Sunil Rangari (25); Rs 550 and an electric autorickshaw (worth Rs 2 lakh) from Ajay Shankarrao Huke (29); Rs 5,000 from Nilesh Nilkanth Bhurkunde (29); and Rs 3,400 and a TVS Jupiter moped (worth Rs 50,000) from Tejas Sunilrao Age (23). Mobile phones were also seized from all of them.

In all, property worth about Rs 9,12,000 was seized from the thirteen accused. A case has been registered against all of them at Wardha city police station under Sections 4 and 5 of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act. The raid was carried out by Inspector Nageshkumar Chatarkar's team under the guidance of Superintendent of Police Saurabhkumar Agrawal, Additional Superintendent of Police Sadashiv Waghmare and Sub-Divisional Police Officer Sunil Mahadik.