Lottery scam: CID grills suspended police officer

Officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday interrogated suspended Superintendent of Police, Dharanesh, for more than eight hours, as part of the ongoing investigation into the single-digit lottery racket.

“Dharanesh came to the CID office to appear before the investigating team after a notice was slapped on him. He was asked a number of questions about his role in the scam. The questioning took place for more than eight hours,” a senior officer in CID said.

“The interrogation took place in a closed room and Dharanesh answered the questions posed to him. We focused mainly on the nature of relationship between illegal lottery kingpin Pari Rajan and Dharanesh. We also tried to ascertain how the officer helped Rajan to thrive,” said the police. Dharanesh was quizzed about the involvement of his lower-rung officers in the Excise Enforcement and Lottery Prohibition Wing and other senior police officers involved in the scam.

“We also questioned him about his money transactions in a few bank accounts,” said the police.

Dharanesh claimed that he was innocent and efforts were made to project him as a corrupt officer. He gave a patient hearing and answered all questions, the officer said.

Meanwhile, suspended IPS officer Alok Kumar, who was quizzed on Sunday for his suspected links with Rajan, went to the CID office to complete some formalities. “We did not interrogate Alok Kumar on Monday. He had to sign on a set of papers and he completed the formality on Monday,” added the police.