Lottery racket busted

Five other gang members were arrested later when the police raided two city lodges, one in Somwar Peth and the other in the vicinity of Tadiwala Road near Pune railway station.

Among those arrested were Abdul Jalil alias Siraj Anis Ahmed Sayyed 35, Kamraj Mehendi Hassan Sayyed 29, Ashiq Sayyed Abdul Hasin 25, Mohammad Shahid Mohammed Yunus Khan 33, Anis Ahemad Hassan 36, Azam Mohammed Murtuza Sayyed 32 and Arif Fida Qureshi 23.

They were slapped with charges of cheating and common intention after the owner of Budhwar Peth-based Ganesh Lottery Centre, Nandakumar Baburao Naik, lodged a First Information Report FIR against them at Faraskhana police station.

Inspector Shukla said all the accused, except for Arif Fida Qureshi, are residents of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Qureshi, who also hails from Madhya Pradesh, resides at Bibvewadi in Pune.

According to the police, the gang members used to obtain the numbers of the prize winning tickets of some daily lotteries from various states after making telephone calls to their contact in Guwahati.They would then tour the city and purchase all the prize winning lottery tickets from various lottery vendors inspector Shukla said.

Inspector Shukla, Abdul Jalil Sayyed had purchased prize winning lottery tickets worth over Rs 16,000 from Nandakumar Naik8217;s stall within 24 hours from 8 am on October 25.