Fake copies of prize winning Kerala state lotteries. (R) Thomas IsaacPalakkad/Thiruvananthapuram: Following reports of forgery of state government lotteries to claim prize money, finance minister Thomas Isaac has ordered director general of police Loknath Behera to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the issue.
The action was initiated based on a report appeared in Malayala Manorama daily the other day.
The report had showed that forgery of prize winning lotteries with lower prize money after draw of lots were on the rise across the state. A Palakkad-based lottery agent had recently presented a host of documentary evidence against such racketeers while filing a complaint.
Earlier, the officials at the Palakkad District Lottery Office had also notified the minister of a bogus lottery ticket bearing fake seals which was submitted to claim prize money.
According to the minister’s office, a thorough investigation is under way to find out the source of such fake tickets and nab the culprits.
The circle inspector of Chittur is in charge of the investigation. The district police chief will oversee the inquiry.
The complaints regarding fake tickets would be handed over to the special squad which is currently investigating the cases pertaining to the banned single-digit lottery, the DGP informed the minister’s office.
The complaint received by the Palakkad District Lottery Officer has been passed on to the district police chief.
The very credibility of the Kerala lotteries would be at stake if the authorities concerned failed to take stringent action to prevent such fraudulent activities, the petition pointed out.
Detailed examinations revealed that the lottery tickets submitted to claim prize monies were fake ones that exactly looked original. It is to be ascertained whether the racket is involved in forging only the prize-winning tickets or they print counterfeit tickets in bulk, the officials said.
Normally, the bogus tickets are produced by leading lottery distributors and agents to claim prize money after collecting them from small-scale agents and vendors. Ultimately, it is the latter who bear the loss.
Primary investigations revealed that bogus tickets arrive in Palakkad from places such as Velanthavalam and Kozhinjampara located on the Tamil Nadu border.
According to the complaint filed by Muhammed Mustafa, a lottery agent based in Koduvaur in Palakkad, he was duped for Rs 5,000 after an unidentified person submitted five bogus tickets of the Sthree Shakthi Lottery and claimed a prize money of Rs 1,000 each on October 26. The draw of lots was held the previous day and the last four numbers on the tickets in different series had won the 6th prize of Rs 1,000 each.
When the agent submitted those tickets at the District Lottery Office, he found out that the prize money had already been claimed from Kasaragod.
Many other police stations in the district have also received similar complaints. Wholesale dealers and agents have informed the Lottery Department about the counterfeit Sthree Shakthi and Karunya Plus tickets that they received in recent times.
The modus operandi of the racket is to target a number of agents in separate places at a time. They would approach the small-scale agencies with fake tickets the next day morning after the draw of lots, the police said.
Before carrying out the operation, they make sure that the outlets are not equipped with closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras, they added.
