Another online lottery racket busted in Mira Road, 2 held

A team from the Naya Nagar police station arrested two people including the operator and his assistant for their alleged involvement in encouraging gambling activities under the guise of running lottery centers without any registration or mandated licenses in Mira Road. However, the soliciting customers managed to evade the police dragnet.

Acting on a tip-off, the team led by police sub-inspector Ashutosh Chavhan, swooped down on a shop located in the Shanti Nagar area of Mira Road. The team rounded-up two people including the operator identified as Sudhakar Shetty (47) and his assistant Rajneesh Gupta (34). The accused were operating the center by encouraging single and double-digit lottery systems which were announced every 15 minutes. The police seized cash amounting to more than Rs. 10,000 and mobile phones which were used to facilitate the illegalities. An offence under the relevant sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887 and the Lottery (Regulation) Act-1998 has been registered against the duo.

However, it was still not clear as to why the raiding team refrained from slapping more stringent sections under the Information and Technology Act as the racketeers were apparently using specially designed software and websites to conduct their nefarious activities. The actual masterminds of the racket were apparently using software that showed the quantum of bets placed on numbers, on the basis of which the number with the least bet was selected, sources said. Such centers which have mushroomed in the twin-city are attracting people especially youngsters and daily wage earners towards easy and instant money. Further investigations were underway.