In a major operation against illegal lottery operations in Tamil Nadu, 38 individuals were arrested on Tuesday, including S Manohar, a notorious 68-year-old lottery history-sheeter, and his associates. The Fort Police in the city arrested Manohar for defrauding J Madhavan, 38, out of Rs25,000, which Madhavan won in a lottery organized by Manohar.
Manohar is charged with running illegal lottery schemes and distributing banned Kerala lottery tickets in Tamil Nadu. His arrest follows a crackdown on online vendors who shifted their operations to sell Kerala lottery tickets after the Tamil Nadu government prohibited the sale of lottery tickets. Manohar’s associate, N Rengarajan, 61, was also arrested in the Rock Fort area, and other key figures, including Kalimuthu, Baskar, and Napolean, were implicated in the case.
Manohar has a criminal history tied to lottery sales, having previously been arrested and detained under the Goondas Act in 2017 for similar offenses.
The modus operandi of the illegal lottery racket involved selling tickets based on the Kerala lottery evening draw. Customers could choose a three-digit number for either Rs30 or Rs60. If the last digit of the Kerala lottery’s winning number matched the last three digits of the customer’s ticket, they won a prize, with amounts ranging from Rs100 to Rs25,000 depending on the match.
In total, 30 agents were arrested in rural areas of Trichy, while seven others were taken into custody in Trichy city. All those arrested have been charged under various sections of the Lotteries (Regulations) Act.
