A person who cheated Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly in the guise of new government loan schemes by posing as Additional Secretary of the Finance Department was nabbed by the Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police.
Officials said that the former Assistant Executive (AE) in NTPC, Ramagundam, Thota Balaji Naidu, used aliases like Malla Reddy and Dasari Anil Kumar, and contacted the MPs and MLAs over phone by introducing himself as the Additional Secretary of the Finance department.
He used to claim that a new government loan scheme is being launched with the knowledge of the Chief Minister which requires participation of 100 members with a contribution of ₹3,600 each, totalling ₹3.60 lakh. Believing the same, the victims transferred the amount to the mule bank accounts given by the accused. After receiving the amount, he avoided the calls,” police said.
In February 2009, the NTPC suspended him after he was caught by the CBI for taking bribes from the PA of an MLA.
The accused used to collect phone numbers of MLAs and MPs from official websites and contact them, introducing himself as a bureaucrat. On further interrogation, it was revealed that he is a habitual offender involved in 37 such cases in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, police said.
He was arrested following a complaint received from the personal secretary of an MLA on May 15.
