Kanchanaburi teacher Preecha Kraikruan asked the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to take over the 30-million-baht lottery dispute case on Thursday, accusing police of forcing him to confess he did not own the jackpot tickets.
Mr Preecha, a 50-year-old teacher of Buddhism at Thepmongkolrangsi School in Kanchanaburi's Muang district, went to the Justice Ministry in Bangkok to file his request for intervention by the DSI.
He was accompanied by Ratanaporn Supathip, the 58-year-old lottery vendor in Kanchanaburi who claimed to have sold him the winning five-ticket set.
"The national police commissioner transferred the case to the Central Investigation Bureau and the Crime Suppression Division. Afterwards, I and a witness were questioned and subjected to various forms of threats, persuasion and pressure for as long as 18 hours," Mr Preecha said, referring to interrogation after his arrest late last month.
During the 48 hours of detention, interrogators tried to force him and Mrs Ratanaporn to confess, even though they were innocent, he said.
Mr Preecha, the prime suspect in the case, complained that national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda unfairly announced on Feb 28 that he had provided false information to police.
The teacher also criticised Pol Gen Chakthip for citing a previous Supreme Court ruling that lottery prizes must be paid to those who possess winning tickets. Mr Preecha claimed that the ruling was irrelevant to his case.
Mr Preecha said that he was a senior government official and he dared to insist that the lottery tickets were his because he did buy them. The first investigation, by Kanchanaburi police, confirmed that he owned the tickets, he said.
The final digits "26" on the winning lottery tickets for the Nov 1 draw were in high demand and vendors would normally sell them only to regular customers, Mr Preecha said.
He questioned why no vendors had come forward to say they sold the winning tickets to Pol Lt Jaroon Wimool, 62, who cashed them in.
The lottery dispute flared when Mr Preecha claimed in December that he had purchased the prize-winning tickets and filed a complaint with local police against Pol Lt Jaroon, alleging he had dropped the tickets and the retired policeman had found and picked them up.
The national police chief in February ordered the regional police to transfer the case to the Crime Suppression Division after Pol Lt Jaroon filed his own counter-complaint in Bangkok.
Mr Preecha was arrested on Feb 28 on charges of filing false information and framing another person. Ms Ratanaporn, the Kanchanaburi lottery vendor, was also arrested on the same day for giving a statement supporting Mr Preecha's contention.
They and another lottery vendor were later also charged with supporting Kanchanaburi police commander Suthi Puangpikul's meddling with witness testimony in the case. He has been removed from his job and transferred to Bangkok.