HYDERABAD: A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers from New Delhi have been questioning a former mayor of Hyderabad since Monday about his alleged links with a fake CBI officer, Kovvidi Srinivas Rao from Visakhapatnam. Srinivas Rao who claimed to be a joint director of CBI was arrested at Tamil Nadu Bhavan in New Delhi on Monday following complaints that he was taking huge amounts of money from public servants and high-profile people, promising them favourable outcomes in the cases registered against them by various central investigating agencies. Melapati Chenchu Naidu, Uday Bhaskar Goniguntla, Srinivas Rao Penupotula, Jetti Srinivas and Satyanarayana from Hyderabad are some of the people the impersonator met at Madhyanchal Bhawan and Tamil Nadu Bhawan since November 22.
Another person he met during his stay in the national capital is identified as Vinay Handa from Uttar Pradesh. All of them were duped of huge amounts of money by the fake CBI officer. Srinivas Rao also demanded expensive gifts from his victims, claiming they would be given to the higher officers dealing with the cases pending against them. According to sources, Srinivas Rao obtained ‘No Entry Permit’ (permission for vehicles to ply during ‘No Entry’ restrictions in New Delhi) from the Delhi police for 2,000 vehicles of a company with the help of two persons identified as Venkatesh and Ravi. The nephew of a minister is reported to have paid Rs 65 lakh to the impersonator to secure a favour from the government.
He believed the claims of the impersonator after the latter met his uncle (minister) at a meeting in Karimnagar. The CBI found the former Hyderabad mayor’s links with the fake officer and took him into custody for questioning on Monday. The sleuths reportedly grilled the former mayor about his links with Srinivas Rao and if he had paid any money for any favour to the latter. His bank transactions and mobile phone are also likely to be scrutinised soon by the sleuths.