The modus operandi of a 42-year-old government employee, allegedly absconding for five years, to get rich quick and the success of his errands since three years has stunned the Chittoor police, who arrested him on Thursday.
The police said that over three years, the accused had allegedly cheated over 100 unmarried women through matrimony apps and the amount collected from them could be around ₹30 lakh.
According to information, Karanam Reddy Prasad of Kairalla village near Chittoor joined the Animal Husbandry Department as an attender on compassionate grounds in 2002 after the death of his father, who worked as a police constable in Chittoor district.
Till 2012, Reddy Prasad worked at several places in Chittoor district, before he was given promotion as a typist. As he failed to submit the qualifying certificate to support his promotion, he was reverted to his earlier position as attender in 2016, and was posted at Madanapalle.
Stung by the development, the accused reportedly turned irregular to his duties and had soon become an absconder. Between 2016 and 2018, he tried his hand at luring the unemployed youth with government jobs and allegedly pocketed hefty amounts from the victims. He left Madanapalle soon due to pressure from his duped clients and fearing arrest after his errands were exposed.
In 2019, Reddy Prasad reportedly hit upon the idea of making money by luring unmarried women by creating fake profiles on matrimonial apps, that do not require any registration fee. In this process, he developed online friendship with a Chittoor-based woman, making her believe that he was working in the United Kingdom. After gaining her confidence, he reportedly convinced the woman to transfer ₹2.5 lakh to his account, telling her that he was detained at New Delhi airport for possessing UK currency and was imposed with a fine and that the money would be returned to her on his arrival in Chittoor.
In a couple of days, the man deleted his fake profile on the matrimony app. The woman was the first complainant against Reddy Prasad, and the investigation was kept in progress.
For the next two years, the accused allegedly created several fake profiles on several matrimony apps. To gain the confidence of his victims, he reportedly used the photographs of handsome youth and lesser-known actors of Mollywood and Sandalwood. One of the actors whose profile was used for faking on the app was Vishnu V. Nair of Kerala.
The accused reportedly used the profile picture and the pay-slips of the HoD of his department in Chittoor, to intensify “the level of belief” among his clients.
The victims, who had lost their money approached the official, Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry, Chittoor. The perturbed official in turn approached the police. In no time, the finger of suspicion turned towards Reddy Prasad.
After a careful plan, Deputy SP (Law and Order) N. Sudhakar Reddy and his team arrested Reddy Prasad at the outskirts of Chittoor. An amount of ₹50,000 was seized from him.
“His ambition to get rich quick had only turned him into a alcohoic, gambler, and a vagabond. His wits had failed him and threw him into our trap. We have intensified our investigation to get full details of his victims,” the Deputy SP said.
