Kannur, Thursday, December 30, 2010: CPI State Secretary CK Chandrappan today said that CPI supported Chief Minister’s stand demanding CBI probe into lottery issue. He was speaking to a private channel in Kannur.

The statement that Chief Minister wrote the letter individually was not correct. The decision taken by CM was the decision of State Government, Chandrappan said.

The State Government will take necessary decisions on each issue, Chandrappan added.

Earlier report:-

State Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan has appealed to the Centre for initiating a CBI probe into the Inter state lottery case. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Achuthanandan has sought permission for a CBI probe into the lottery issue.

The Central Home Ministry had earlier informed that the State government’s request for a CBI probe can be considered if the State would request for a probe as per the rules. The Home Ministry informed this to a reply to PT Thomas, MP.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had earlier written to the Centre demanding a ban on lotteries run in the name of the Bhutan government. In the letter sent to Union Home Minister P. Chidamabaram, he said the Centre had the moral and legal duty to ban these lotteries which were being conducted in violation of clause 6 of the Centre’s Lotteries (Regulation) Act of 1998.

He wanted the economic deals connected with the lottery to be probed by the National Investigation Agency or the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Chief Minister pointed out that according to official information, business worth Rs.80,000 crore had been conducted during the last four years.

( news agency inputs)