Four persons, including two former wholesale lottery dealers, have been arrested in Madurai for allegedly operating an ‘e-lottery’ racket in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
The racket, operated by procuring lottery ticket numbers through e-mail from Bangalore and Kolkota, was busted on a tip-off from some local people, IG (South Zone) M N Manjunatha told reporters in Madurai on Wednesday.
Two laptops, a few compact discs and diaries were seized from those arrested, he said.
The operators had switched over to the e-lottery with Madurai as the hub after the police effectively implemented the ban on sale of lottery tickets in the State, he said.
The accused obtained lottery numbers of some State lotteries through e-mail from Kolkatta and Bangalore and sold them to the dealers and sub-dealers, sending the numbers by post, he added.
Results of the lotteries would be communicated to the dealers through regular postal mail. The buyers of the numbers would get the prize money in case of small amounts but were duped when the numbers bagged big prizes. The dealers made huge profits, police said.
Further investigation was on to ascertain the quantum of fraud, he added.
