Former Maoist-controlled forest area turns into cockfight gambling den

RAIPUR: Tents, music, food and cars. Then came the roosters and the bets running into lakhs. Once a Maoist-controlled stretch of forest in Bastar, the remote terrain had acquired a different notoriety – an interstate cockfight gambling carnival attracting punters from across Chhattisgarh and neighbouring Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.Police busted the den near Raiguda village under Bhadrakali police station limits deep inside Bijapur district on Nov 3, catching 156 people and seizing more than Rs 20 lakh, 47 four-wheelers and 12 mobile phones.Acting on intelligence inputs about large-scale betting being organised under the cover of traditional cockfights, police cordoned off the forest site before moving in. The sudden arrival triggered panic, with several participants attempting to flee.

However, 156 people were rounded up.The crackdown, described as one of the biggest gambling busts in Bastar, came before Diwali, when police step up surveillance against illegal betting. These forests have traded the terror of gunfights for the frenzy of cockfights. The Maoists are gone, but a new battleground has taken their place, with lakhs riding on roosters battling to the death.