Assam Police, on Sunday, June 25 arrested two journalists from Tinsukia region, as the former found them linked to a multi-crore lottery scam. The journalists were arrested after the alleged masterminds of the scam were taken under investigation.

The arrested journalists are identified as Saurav Choudhury and Santosh Phukan and are reported to be working for a satellite news channel. The arrests were done following a huge lottery scam in the region. One of the masterminds, Hridoy Kurmi, along with his three accomplices were arrested, followed by the journalists.

As reported by India Today NE, Additional Superintendent of Police, Moidul Islam in a statement said, “Based on the evidence collected during the course of the investigation, police have arrested two journalists in the lottery scam.”

The police is currently on the lookout for the second mastermind named, Bhaskar Nath. Including these two journalists, the police has already arrested as many as ten individuals connected to the lottery scam.

Lottery scams on a rise in India

Recently, there has been a considerable rise in the volume of lottery scams being carried in the country. In a recent development, Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at various properties owned by the ‘lottery king’ Santiago Martin for money laundering through lottery scam.

After the investigation, ED froze assets worth Rs 457 crore from various sources. These included Rs 157.7 crore from Fixed Deposits and Mutual Funds, along with Rs 299.16 crore from immovable property documents.

As of now, an investigation under various sections of IPC 1860 is being conducted against Martin regarding lottery ticket prices inflation that Sikkim government to face a loss of Rs 910 crore. The investigation against Martin is ongoing since last year under Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.