THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city shadow police busted a handwritten lottery racket and arrested four operators at Pazhavangadi on Monday. The accused were identified as Navas, 47 of Manacaud; Abdul Rahman, 59 of Poonthura; Maheen, 42 of Ambalathara and Hareesh, 31 of Kudappankunnu. Several lottery agents are believed to be part of the racket which is popularly known as “Ezhuthu lottery”. Some of the arrested persons were part of an organisation that operated under the banner Manju lottery.
The three digit handwritten lottery numbers were issued through a parallel system under the guise of Kerala State Lottery agency. The accused used to collect '10 for each handwritten lottery that is issued a couple of hours before the draw of state lottery. The buyers can predict three of their favourite numbers to the illegal operators via SMS or writing on a piece of paper. Once Kerala government lucky draw happens, the handwritten lotteries bearing last three digits of prize winning lotteries will be declared winners. While the first prize is Rs 5,000, the second and third prizes are '500 and '250 respectively.
The racket has allegedly collected a huge amount of money from ticket buyers and also cheated many. City Police Commissioner G Sparjan Kumar nabbed the accused based on the complaints by some aggrieved buyers. The accused were produced before the magistrate court which remanded them to 14 day judicial custody. The police has launched a state-wide operation to bust the handwritten lottery racket.
