Karnataka lottery scam: State government issues notification on lottery scam probe

Bengaluru: The state government on Saturday issued a notification to the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) seeking a probe into illegal lottery/ matka scam in the state from 2007 onwards by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

It does not specifically mention investigation into the alleged role of IGP Alok Kumar in the lottery scam. The officer was placed under suspension pending inquiry. “The terms of CBI inquiry and investigation are from 2007 onwards, which will include the illicit network and the modus operandi,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

In its notification to the DoPT, the government has made a mention of the illegal single digit lottery and matka (gambling) racket, which is rampant in the state along with illegal cricket betting and gambling with the alleged help of some people in power despite its ban in 2007, when Karnataka was declared a “lottery free state.”

The notification also mentions the action taken by the incumbent government in disbanding of the special Excise and Lottery Prohibition Wing of the police after a sting operation, carried out by a vernacular television channel in March this year in which lottery kingpin Paari Rajan had spilled the beans of the nexus between police officers and the racketeers and the suspension of two police officers including an IPS officer of the rank of Inspector General of Police pending inquiry.

Police lottery wing disbanded

The state government on Friday issued an order disbanding the discredited special Excise and Lottery Prohibition Wing of the police, which was set up in 2007 to implement the ban on single digit lottery and arrack.

All the 41 police stations under the special squad will be evenly distributed and attached to the police commissionerates and districts, and will function under commissioners and superintendents of police in the districts on the lines of central crime branch (CCB) in Bengaluru City.

There are five commissionerates in the state, in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Belgavi, Hubli-Dharwad and Mangaluru.