The High Court of Karnataka has given the green signal for continuing investigation against 26 bookies operating in Bangalore Turf Club Ltd. (BTCL) for allegedly evading tax and illegally collecting betting amount.
Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty passed the order while rejecting the petitions filed by Surya and Co. and 25 other bookies. The petitioners had questioned the legality of the first information report (FIR) registered against them in January.
“The allegations found in the first information report and the material collected by the investigation officer during the investigation prima facie make out a cognizable offence against the accused. The allegations against the accused are of a very serious nature and the accused, among other allegations, allegedly have misappropriated crores of money collected by them towards payment of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS),” the court observed.
