I had heard before that prize bond draws were manipulated, but there
was no way of proving this. But in the Rs. 15000 prize bond draw (no.
45) held in Peshawar on 3rd January 2011, there is circumstantial
evidence that this is indeed true.
In that draw, three consecutive numbers (018845, 018846 & 018847) won
prizes. The first prize (Rs. 3 crore) went to number 018847, the
second prize (Rs. 1 crore) went to 018846 (along with two other
numbers), while 018845 was one of the numbers winning the third prize
of Rs. 185,000.
According to the law of probability, the chance of a particular number
being drawn at random from 1,700 numbers is one in 1,700. (A total of
1,700 prizes is awarded in each draw). For two particular numbers
being drawn from the same lot of 1,700, the probability is one in
2,890,000. But for three particular numbers to be drawn, the
probability rises to one in 4,913,000,000. Put in simpler terms, what
happened is a miracle. For this to have happened, 4.913 billion draws
would have to be held. In short, it could have happened only once in
1.28 billion years (since there are four draws of Rs. 15,000 bonds
held every year).
Now you don’t have to be a certified moron to guess what happened.
Someone who owned each of the three prize bonds paid the computer
operator to ensure that the three numbers would be drawn. In that
case, he earned Rs. 40,185,000 (part of which went to the computer
operator). But there is another frightening possibility. There are
eight series in the Rs. 15,000 prize bond category (each containing
the winning numbers). What if only one person had all the 24 bonds in
existence bearing the three numbers? He would then be richer by Rs.
321,480,000 (over Rs. 32 crores).
In this case, one cannot deny the
possibility of government functionaries being involved. And if you
consider that there are prize bond draws of other denominations held
many times every year, there must be many such scams taking place.
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