CM Siddaramaiah to hand over lottery scam probe to CBI

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday announced that the State government will hand over the probe of the lottery scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI would probe the illegal racket from 2007 when the BJP-JD(S) coalition was in power, according to a report in Deccan Chronicle.JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy was the chief minister during this period when he banned the sale of lottery tickets in Karnataka.The Opposition had been mounting pressure on the government over the last few days to hand over the probe to CBI.Speaking at a press conference, the chief minister said, “We need to know the entire truth in this scam. We need to know who are all involved in this scam since 2007 when lottery was banned in the state. Hence, I have decided to hand over the probe to the CBI.”He insisted that the government had acted quickly when the scam came to light and had suspended two police officials who were found to be involved in the racket.He said the opposition had “no moral right” in demanding a CBI probe in every case. “No one can accuse the government of not taking steps to stop this scam. The previous governments did not act, but all those who were at the helm of affairs from 2007 to 2013 are accusing my government of inaction. If previous governments acted in time against these lottery operators, the scam would not have taken place,” he was quoted as saying by the paper.