Vadodara man moves court to get back seized gambling money

VADODARA: A contractual sanitation worker of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), who lost his gambling money to cops in a raid, has moved court to get the cash back.
Reeling under severe cash crunch due to non-payment of salary for three months, the aggrieved man, Hitesh Parmar, stated in his petition that he was not seeking lockdown wages from his contractor, but from Navapura police.
He wants cops to return Rs 15,500 cash that they had seized from him during a gambling raid at the Azad Maidan in Bakrawadi locality in January this year. Cops had arrested Parmar along with his friends Arun Kharwa and Mukesh Thakor for gambling.
Parmar, a resident of New VIP Road, told the court that since the lockdown began, he has not been paid salary and is finding it extremely difficult to run the family.
“The cash is lying idle in police custody. If I get it back, I can buy groceries and essential items for my family,” he stated in the petition filed through advocate Alpesh Chauhan. Chauhan said police had seized Rs 25,830 cash from the spot, of which Rs 15,500 was found from Parmar’s pocket.
“Now, I also have to manage fees for my children’s education as their classes have begun online. If the cash remains in police custody for longer time it will not be taken care of properly and I will have to face difficult times,” Parmar said in his prayer.
Parmar, who used to earn a monthly salary of Rs 9,000 before lockdown, lives with his mother, wife and two kids.
“Before the lockdown, the contractual sanitation workers had gone on strike demanding regularizing their salaries. Later, they resumed work, but soon lockdown was effected and since then they have not been paid salary,” said Chauhan. The court will take up Parmar’s case for hearing next week.