Lottery organiser flees with 1.6 cr

Quthbullapur: A lottery organiser wound up his shop and fled with lakhs of rupees, cheating his clients, at Padma Nagar Phase-1 under Balanagar police station limits.

One Gopala Rao, a driver who migrated from Khammam to the city 15 years ago, started an organisation called Vinayaka Enterprises, with the help of three other partners, at Padma Nagar Phase 1 in a rented shop and started a lottery scheme with 2,000 members.

Every month, members used to pay Rs 1,000 each and 10 members would be given gifts every month. Three months ago, the partners left the business and started their own organisations. Gopal Rao, however, continued with the scheme and managed to collect Rs 1.6 crore from his customers in the last eight months.

On Thursday, when the members of the scheme went to the shop, as it was the day of lottery, they found to their dismay that it was locked, and the sign board missing. The members tried to find his whereabouts but in vain.

Realising that they were cheated, the members staged a protest on the road before Gopal Rao's house. They demanded police to arrest the culprit and render justice to them.