Mumbai lottery centre issues fake bills, six held

The lottery centre allegedly gave fake receipts to customers in order to evade taxes.

The Malwani police on Tuesday raided a lottery centre and arrested six operators, who allegedly gave fake receipts to customers in order to evade taxes. The police said they received a tip-off that operators of Masoon Online lottery centre were evading taxes by giving their customers fake receipts.

The centre, according to local police, has been operational for two years. (Representational photo)

The centre, according to local police, has been operational for two years. The issuance of fake receipts began earlier this year. The complaint was filed by a police officer.

A police team, led by the senior inspector Deepak Phatangare, raided the centre and seized two monitors, a CPU, a printer, a router and cash worth Rs6,800. The police said they are investigating how many customers the centre had and trying to determine approximately how much tax was evaded by them.

The accused have been identified as Shakil Sayyed, Abhinav Mirza, Mahendra Soni, Shabir Khokhawala, Abdul Khalid Sardar, Mahendra Soni and Anand Salunke.

“All of them were produced before a magistrate court and remanded to police custody till April 16,” said Phatangare. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Gambling Act, Information Technology Act and the Lotteries (Regulation) Act.