7 held in Trichy for illegal lottery sale

TRICHY: Trichy city police arrested seven illegal lottery sellers for threatening two people and cheating them of their prize money here on Sunday.
Gandhi market police attached to Trichy city police arrested L Mariya Merculls, 47, of Palakkarai in Trichy, K Murugesan, 37, of Ramanathapuram, P Vishnu, 23, of Sivagangai on charges of cheating J Lawrence, 28, of Varaganeri in Trichy. They were also booked for threatening Lawrence and robbing him of Rs 5,000. Case has been registered under the sections of IPC and Lottery Regulation Act.
On December 11, Mariya met Lawrence near the Gandhi market arch and persuaded him to buy the banned online lottery. He also bought some lotteries and won the draw. When Lawrence asked him to give the prize money, the accused threatened him and refused to give the money. They also robbed him of Rs 5,000 at knife point.
The accused were arrested based on a complaint from Lawrence. Police recovered a bike, mobile phones and the lottery numbers. They were remanded in judicial custody by a court on Sunday.
In a similar case, Palakkarai police attached to Trichy city police arrested S Soosai alias Ayyanar, 40, of Pudukkottai, S Arockiasamy, 20, of Mysuru in Karnataka, S Arun Prasath, 24, of Velan Nagar in Trichy and S Jegan, 22, of Sivagangai on charges of cheating G Srinivasan, 53, of North Tharanallur by not giving him the prize money that he won in the online lottery.
The four men also threatened Srinivasan at knife point and robbed him of Rs 3,000 on Sunday. They were all produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody.