Bengaluru lottery scam: CID submits call records

BENGALURU: The Criminal Investigation Department, investigating the lottery scam in which some senior IPS officers are allegedly involved has reportedly submitted a preliminary report to the government with the Call Detail Records (CDRs) of the officers with the lottery kingpin Rajan Paari, who was arrested in March this year after a sting operation in Mysuru by a vernacular TV channel. The CID has also included a detailed report of the suspended SP Dharanesh’s alleged links with Rajan. The officer, who was attached to the lottery squad, was suspended after he was outed in the sting operation.

The CDRs of one IGP rank officer, who is posted in the city, reportedly shows more than 200 calls made and received from Rajan, said official sources. Besides him the CDRs of an ADGP rank officer also shows that he was in touch with the accused. The officer has reportedly told CID that he received calls from Rajan  but did not revert his calls.

Besides the CDRs the Department has also submitted the videographed statement of Rajan in which he has given the names of the officers, which include at least two retired IPS officers of the rank of DGP and ADGP and senior serving IPS officers. “The investigating officer will summon the officers whose CDRs reflect their communication with the lottery kingpin for recording their statement,” the officer added.

Sources said that once the CID completes its probe, it will submit the final report to the government for action against the officers. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had pulled up the police officers in the recent meeting with the senior cops in the DG&IGP’s office and even admonished some of them, whose names have been doing the rounds in the scam.
Oppn demands CBI probe

Will the state government act on the investigation report of the CID in which senior IPS officers are allegedly part of the illegal lottery scam and were in touch with the alleged lottery kingpin Rajan Paari? The Opposition has demanded a CBI inquiry into the scam, but the government may not agree to do so, said official sources.

Interestingly though the scam was outed in March the FIR was registered only against Rajan with no mention of the IPS officers he was allegedly in touch with. “It is going to be a sticky investigation because many more skeletons may fall out of the cupboard and it may boomerang on the government. Also it’s not going to be easy for a deputy superintendent of police rank officer, who is the investigating officer in the case to summon his superior officers for questioning,” the officer added.

Scams taking a toll on police, government’s image

Karnataka police looks bad in the face of repeated scams involving its creamy layer – the Indian Police Service officers, in alleged illegal scams and scandals that have rocked the State in the last two years and shows the government in very poor light.

“The indiscipline and the involvement of senior IPS officers in scams is bringing bad name to the government and the Chief Minister has taken serious exception to the falling image of the police force. On May 9, during the meeting with the senior police officers in the DG&IGP’s office, he pulled them up after disbanding the Excise Enforcement and Lottery Prohibition Wing, which instead of looking after its mandate was doing the reverse; of ganging up with scamsters and protecting the bootleggers and lottery kingpins. He even told an IGP rank officer, whose name is allegedly on the top of the lottery scam, to put down his papers and resign from service. He has given a long rope to the errant officers, but his patience is running thin because it is reflecting on his image now,” said an official source.

In January last year the Mysuru police ‘raided’ a Kerala-bound bus carrying about Rs 2.27 crore cash of four jewellers in Yelawala police station limits. It later turned out to be a ploy of the cops to pocket the unaccounted cash in which the gunman of the then IGP, Southern range was arrested. A former DGP rank officer was reportedly involved in forging documents and the then serving Director General and Inspector General of Police had to send a report to the government on the matter to put an end to the embarrassment.

A serving DGP rank officer’s name had figured in passport verification scandal two years ago. Last year in May an officer of the rank of ADGP brought the country’s attention to the shameful clickgate scandal in which he was allegedly involved. While the government watched with caution what followed was an unprecedented near mutiny by the State Armed Reserve Police Force and the government had to ensure that the armoury was locked to avoid an armed rebellion by its policemen.