Lottery scam: ­ Rajan learnt tricks of trade in gullies of Gandhinagar

BANGALORE: No one in Bharathnagar, KGF, is ready to talk about the town's suddenly infamous son, Rajan Natarajan aka Pari Rajan, 54, who is suspected to be the kingpin of an illegal lottery racket that threatens to ruin the career of more than one IPS officer.Rajan's neighbours say they don't know anything about him, but their smiles are a clear giveaway. After some prodding, locals open up but are wary of disclosing their names. They describe Rajan as a glib talker who knew many ways to befriend cops. He organised trips for them to Tirupati and showered them with Tirupati laddus, they say. The older of the two sons of Natarajan, a man from Tamil Nadu who worked in KGF gold mines, Rajan came to Bengaluru in the 1990s looking for a job. Locals say he dabbled in catering, share brokerage and opened a lot tery agen cy in Gandhinagar, near Majestic in Bengaluru, in 2000. In between, he handled public relations for a lottery company. He was one of the many enterprising individuals who latched onto Playwin, the country's first corporate-run online lottery launched by the Karnataka gover nment in 2002, and opened a kiosk. He built contacts with agents in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Shuttling daily between KGF and Bengaluru, he began lending money to customers from Chickpet and Avenue Road. He spread his network to several parts of the state, employing sub-agents at the taluk level. His investments in sub-agents ran to Rs 2 crore during 2006, say people in KGF. Rajan and his agents fell on bad days when the government declared Karnataka a lottery-free zone in 2007. "Rajan suffered. He went missing for seven months as he had run up huge debts," a Bharathnagar resident said. However, Rajan slowly regained his status in 2008. Another resident said, "Suddenly, he changed his look. He always wore white full-sleeved shirts and dark trousers. While attending public functions and social events, he'd wear expensive suits. He is among the few in our town to sport an original Rado watch," he said. The new-look Rajan began settling land, family and monetary disputes, besides local political disagreements. "He's an expert in dealing with gover nment-related issues; he knows whom to contact for what purpose. He's good at building contacts, particularly with senior government officials," they said. -TOI