Hyderabad: Seven more individuals were apprehended by the Jubilee Hills police on Thursday, September 18, in relation to the Rs 8.71 lakh Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) cheque fraud.
The accused have been identified as Potla Ravi, 46, Janagama Nagaraju, 40, Mateti Bhasker, 33, Dharmaram Raju, 50, Kampalli Santhosh, 35, Chityala Laxmi, 65 and Asampelli Laxmi. All of them are natives of Godavarikhani village in Pedapally district.
According to the police, these individuals acted as fake beneficiaries and fraudulently got the CMRF cheques deposited in their personal accounts and withdrew the money.
They have been accused of cheating the government and depriving genuine victims/beneficiaries. A case has been registered under sections 409, 417, 419, 467, and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66(C) of the Information Technology Act.
Police have also identified other accused in the case who are currently absconding. Efforts are underway to nab them and recover the misappropriated funds.
4 arrested on July 15
Earlier, on July 15, the police had arrested four individuals in relation to this case, who have been remanded to judicial custody.
The prime accused, Jogula Naresh Kumar, 42, had misused his access to the CMRF cheques while working at the minister’s office and unlawfully took possession of 230 sanctioned but undistributed cheques.
He had identified 19 cheques which had been issued but not followed up and deposited them into the SBI Branch at Jubilee Hills Road No 5 using forged details.
The other four that were previously arrested include Balagoni Venkatesh, 37, Korlapati Vamshi, 24 and Pulipaka Omkar, 34.
