Ex-Ranji cricketer from AP arrested for impersonating as KTR's PA

Hyderabad: A former Ranji cricketer from Andhra Pradesh was arrested on 6 March for impersonating as the personal secretary of the Telangana IT minister, K.T Rama Rao. The sleuths of the commissioner's task force, north zone, apprehended Budumuru Nagaraju and seized Rs. 10 lakhs and a cell phone from his possession.

The 25-year-old Nagaraju, a resident of Yavvaripet village under Polaki Mandal in AP's Srikakulam district, was involved in nine cases registered in various police stations in the city. In six cases, he had collected over Rs. 39 lakhs in total from various companies.

According to the police, the former cricketer targeted companies, hospitals, realtors, and educational institutions. He searched for their phone numbers on Google, called them, and introduced himself as Bandari Tirupathi, the personal secretary to minister KTR.

He told them KTR was being sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Telangana and a programme was being held at LB Nagar stadium. He asked them money for hoardings and advertisements through print and electronic media for the swearing-in ceremony. In this way, he had cheated nine companies and collected Rs. 39,22,400. Nagaraju had earlier been arrested in 10 cases in Telangana and AP.

In May 2019, Nagaraju had been arrested for impersonating the Board of Control for Cricket in India chief selector and duping people. A year earlier, he had cheated a person by claiming that he would establish a Dhoni Cricket Academy in Visakhapatnam.