Seven held for running illegal lottery scheme

The city police have arrested a gang of seven persons for allegedly operating an illegal lottery scheme in Koregaon Park area.

Acting on a tip off,a team of Bund Garden police led by senior inspector Ranjit Dhure and sub inspector M B Suryawanshi,on Monday,raided a jeep in lane number seven of Koregaon Park,in which the accused were operating a lucky draw scheme named as Om Sai Baba Group – Bhavya Marketing Yojana.

The accused initially claimed that they have authorisation from Mantrayala and the district collectorate for running the scheme. They also produced some documents with the district collectors stamp and signature. We seized the documents for verification at district collectorate. It was found that the seized documents were bogus, said Suryawanshi.

Police arrested Tanaji Dadarao Sonawane (45) of Gavli Nagar,Bhosari,and his accomplices Anil Khalge (23),Mahadev Gaikwad (30),Bhaskar Sonawane (28),Anant Kunbhar (32),Manoj Rikibe (21) and Balasaheb Khalge (29),all residents of Bhosari area. A jeep,some lucky draw coupons and gift items have been seized. The accused have been booked under section 420,465,468,471,34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 4,6 of Bombay Lotteries and Prize Competition Act,1958. All the accused were remanded to police custody till January 19.

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