Police bust online lottery racket, seven arrested

Kolkata: Kolkata Police has busted an online lottery racket and arrested seven people while investigating a cheating case.

Those arrested have been identified as Rupam Mazumdar of Kaikhali Chiriamore, Shankar Dey and Sushil Kumar Paria of Hooghly, Dilip Ghosh of Posta, Md Akram of Kaikhali Baguihati, Subrata Mitra of Charu Market and Hemant Kumar Mourya of Varanasi.

They have been arrested under various IPC sections and Lotteries Regulations Act. Police said a UP-based official of Bandhan Bank had fallen in love with Hemant in 2017.

Hemant, who used to stay in a mess in Kolkata, took money from the woman on the pretext of opening a business. "By 2019, he took around Rs 5 lakh from the woman… When the woman's parents wanted them to get married, Hemant started ignoring them," said an official.

When asked to return the money, Hemant refused to do so and started threatening her over the phone. The girl contacted New Alipore police station and a complaint was lodged. During probe, police caught the accused one by one. On interrogation, both Hemant and Subrata reportedly confessed that they were agents of an illegal online lottery agency.

(With inputs from Indian Express)