Murshidabad Police bust fake lottery racket, five arrested with 3,000 counterfeit tickets

Police arrested five people on Tuesday morning in the Raghunathganj police station area of Murshidabad district for allegedly bringing counterfeit lottery tickets of a reputed company from another state and attempting to sell them. More than three thousand fake lottery tickets were recovered from the arrested individuals. According to police sources, the arrested individuals have been identified as Mojahar Sheikh, Minarul Sheikh, Arju Sheikh, Monirul Sheikh, and Sanirul Sheikh. Their homes are located in different villages under the jurisdiction of Raghunathganj police station. Acting on a tip-off, the Raghunathganj police raided an area adjacent to a garage on Tuesday morning and apprehended them.

Police sources state that ‘Dear Lottery’ is quite popular among lottery ticket sellers in West Bengal. Although the company operates legally by paying outstanding revenues to the state government, some dishonest traders are misusing its name by bringing counterfeit lottery tickets from Jharkhand and other districts, distributing them in the market through various sellers. This not only results in significant revenue loss for the state government but also causes many people to lose their money by purchasing fake lottery tickets.

Local sources indicate that in the case of genuine tickets, cash prizes are awarded when the numbers match, but with fake tickets, no such prizes are given. The first prize for counterfeit tickets typically ranges between twenty to twenty-five thousand rupees. A large number of people win prizes on fake tickets. Additionally, if a genuine ticket wins a prize, the buyer can claim the prize amount by submitting the ticket to any dealer. However, in the case of fake tickets, buyers must go to the place where they purchased the ticket to claim their prize.

Since counterfeit ticket sellers are offered higher commissions, the sale of fake tickets has now surpassed that of genuine ones in areas like Raghunathganj, Suti, and Samsherganj police station limits, which are near the Jharkhand border in Murshidabad. Jangipur Police District Superintendent Anand Roy stated that they are following a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against counterfeit lottery tickets. "We are conducting regular raids in all police station areas against these accused traders," he added.