Scammers in AP CMO busted; 5 made money forging IAS officers’ digital signatures

Vijayawada: The sleuths of the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (AP CID) arrested five persons for misusing the digital signatures of senior IAS officers working in the CMO, to create fake Chief Minister’s Petitions (CMP) and earned money.

The accused are contractual employees at the Chief Minister’s Office and they have issued 66 Chief Minister’s Petitions (CMP) from June to August and collected Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 from the applicants.

CMPs are sent by people to the MLAs and MPs in the CMO. The IAS officers have the authority to direct these petitions to the secretaries of the departments concerned. According to the superintendent of the CID, Harshavardhan Raju, the five accused were using the e-office login username and password of the IAS officers in the CMO.

Accused make money on fake petitions

The investigation revealed that the accused prepared the fake CMPs without the knowledge of the officers concerned by using the digital signatures of the senior IAS officers through the e-office. The CMPs were then sent to the concerned departments for processing.

The arrested were identified as data entry operator Kanamrala Srinu, G Seetha Ramayya, Nalajala Sairam, B Chiatanya Naik, and Abdula Razzaq. Police identified Srinu as the prime accused in this case who used to work for Officer Revu Muthyala Raju as a junior employee.

Their scam came to light when senior IAS officer Dhanunjaya Reddy who came across a CMP from the Home Department prepared by Srinu, cross-checked it and found the irregularity.

Modus Operandi

Srinu and others misused login credentials of the e-office of the CMO and prepared CMPs using the digital signatures of secretaries. They would then forward the files to departments concerned for further action to resolve the petition.

The CID official said that Srinu initially used the credentials for his monetary benefit by creating forged CMPs and sending them across to any department he wanted. He, later gave his idea to Sai Ram, Sitaramayya, Naik and Razzak, who were working under different senior officials to form a gang.

They would take petitioners’ requests along with MLA or MP request letters, upload them on the e-office and charge between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000 from the petitioners. They would share the money among themselves.

The police booked a case under IPC sections 420, 465, and 471 read with 120B and Sections 66C and D of the Information Technology Act.