Bengaluru: Reportedly, Pari Rajan, the kingpin of the Single Digit Lottery scam, who was arrested on April 30th in a raid on his house in BEML Layout, KGF, by the lottery and excise enforcement department, has told the CID that the tickets were printed in Kerala, and that the network is spread across three states He has named his associates as Jithu alias Ranjith, Erode Ranjan, KVK Ganesh and Anand, who are at large. Rajan has been booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating and disobeying the order of a public servant.
Sources indicate that Paari has told the police that Jithu was a courier to the printer and collected the tickets. Tickets of 24 different lotteries from several states, including Assam, Tamil Nadu and surprisingly Bodoland were found at his residence. Apart from this Police recovered more than Rs 39,000 in cash. The Phones were missing though. He had handed the phones and SIM cards to his friend Murugan, who lives in RT Nagar, Bengaluru. Police later managed to seize the mobiles and cards.
Before the state decided to transfer the case to the CBI, no officer other than Alok Kumar, additional commissioner (west), was questioned. Alok Kumar is now under suspension. Rajan had links with film world, says CID
Information emanating from various sources indicate that Rajan Nataraj aka Pari Rajan,is also closely connected with the film industry in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. This became evident from his his phone call records.
“We are not sure if those from the film industry are involved in the scam. But Rajan claimed he helped producers get finance for films and facilitated budding actors by getting them small roles. He also took commission from them. We’d already seized over 12 SIM cards from him. Now, it looks like he has more SIM cards. Since the case is being transferred to CBI, we will bring the matter to their notice,” sources said.
(Agencies)
