BENGALURU: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has given a clean chit to a small-time businessman who was called the kingpin of an alleged lottery scam and arrested in 2015.
In a chargesheet filed recently, the agency, which inquired into the case, has revealed that there was no lottery scam and 10 police officers conspired to falsely implicate the businessman, Parirajan. The officers, it alleges, planted bogus evidence during a raid at Parirajan’s residence in BEML Nagar in KGF.
The chargesheet was submitted to the XVII additional chief metropolitan magistrate court, and the CBI has sought sanction from the state government to prosecute the officers.
Parirajan, known as Rajan to friends, had a brief moment in the limelight in 2015 after he claimed in a sting conducted by a Kannada TV channel that he ran a lottery business and had connections with some IPS officers. On May 1, 2015, officers from the KGF excise enforcement and lottery prohibition wing raided his house.
The team later said it had seized computer-printed lottery tickets with different names, chequebooks and result sheets.
The CBI chargesheet now states that the raid was staged with “mala fide intention” and material seized from Parirajan’s house was planted there. As part of its evidence, the CBI has submitted the analysis of a hard disk seized from the police team behind the raid. The analysis, conducted at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Delhi, showed that the result sheets that the police team cited as evidence against Parirajan were actually printed at the police station a few hours before the raid. Sub-inspector Raviprakash took the printouts, according to the chargesheets.
After Parirajan was arrested, IPS officer Alok Kumar’s name was linked to the scam and he was suspended. The suspension was later lifted.
“I stand vindicated. My name was unnecessarily dragged into the case. The CBI has informed the state government that I had no role in the matter,” Kumar, who is now the additional director general of police, told TOI.
In a chargesheet filed recently, the agency, which inquired into the case, has revealed that there was no lottery scam and 10 police officers conspired to falsely implicate the businessman, Parirajan. The officers, it alleges, planted bogus evidence during a raid at Parirajan’s residence in BEML Nagar in KGF.
The chargesheet was submitted to the XVII additional chief metropolitan magistrate court, and the CBI has sought sanction from the state government to prosecute the officers.
Parirajan, known as Rajan to friends, had a brief moment in the limelight in 2015 after he claimed in a sting conducted by a Kannada TV channel that he ran a lottery business and had connections with some IPS officers. On May 1, 2015, officers from the KGF excise enforcement and lottery prohibition wing raided his house.
The team later said it had seized computer-printed lottery tickets with different names, chequebooks and result sheets.
The CBI chargesheet now states that the raid was staged with “mala fide intention” and material seized from Parirajan’s house was planted there. As part of its evidence, the CBI has submitted the analysis of a hard disk seized from the police team behind the raid. The analysis, conducted at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Delhi, showed that the result sheets that the police team cited as evidence against Parirajan were actually printed at the police station a few hours before the raid. Sub-inspector Raviprakash took the printouts, according to the chargesheets.
After Parirajan was arrested, IPS officer Alok Kumar’s name was linked to the scam and he was suspended. The suspension was later lifted.
“I stand vindicated. My name was unnecessarily dragged into the case. The CBI has informed the state government that I had no role in the matter,” Kumar, who is now the additional director general of police, told TOI.
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