Hyderabad: The Hyderabad cybercrime police have arrested a 32-year-old former cricketer for impersonating a senior official from the Telangana chief minister’s office and attempting to defraud prominent business figures.Police said the accused, B Nagaraju, a resident of Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh, has a long history of fraud and has been involved in over 30 cheating cases across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh since 2018.Nagaraju has previously impersonated high-profile political aides, including the personal secretaries of former minister KT Rama Rao, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, and former AP CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, leading to his arrest in multiple cities, including Hyderabad, Vijayawada, and Mumbai.According to police, Nagaraju recently created a fake email ID — reventhreddyosd@gmail.com — and posed as B Ajith Reddy, officer on special duty and personal secretary to the Telangana CM. Using this false identity, he targeted several senior business executives, including managing directors of Rapido, Gupta Realty, and Bollineni Infra Projects, attempting to solicit financial assistance under the guise of official requests.His arrest followed a complaint lodged on May 15 by the CMO official whose identity had been misused. A case was registered under sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Nagaraju allegedly used a mix of email, WhatsApp, and phone calls to contact and attempt to deceive his targets.“He has a consistent pattern of impersonating influential figures to defraud people. He also claimed to have played state-level cricket in AP,” said D Kavitha, deputy commissioner of police, cybercrimes, Hyderabad.Investigators also revealed that a non-bailable warrant was pending against him in the XII additional chief metropolitan magistrate court, Nampally. The arrest was executed by a team led by inspector S Mattam Raju, who apprehended Nagaraju from his hometown in AP. A mobile phone was seized. The accused was produced before a local court on Wednesday and was remanded in judicial custody.The Hyderabad police have issued a public advisory urging citizens to exercise caution and not respond to emails or messages purportedly from senior govt officials requesting financial favours. Victims of cybercrime are encouraged to report incidents by calling 1930 or visiting cybercrime.gov.in.
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