HYDERABAD: A youngster who claimed to be the cousin of TDP leader from Andhra Pradesh Paritala Sriram had allegedly cheated gullible youth under the pretext of providing them jobs in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and collected huge amount of money from them, was arrested by Jubilee Hills police in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
The accused, Koduri Rajesh, 28, told that he was into producing movies and befriended youngsters with offers in his movie, said police. Rajesh has collected over Rs 80.40 lakh from 14 persons, but only six of them have lodged complaints with police, said DCP West Zone AR Srinivas.
Hailing from Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, Rajesh moved to Bengaluru after completing graduation. Though he began working for private firms for a while, he was not satisfied with his earnings, due to which he decided to earn easy money. He initially started obtaining credit cards using the documents of his friends, without their knowledge and spent them on luxuries. After cases were registered against him at Bengaluru, he fled the city and moved to Hyderabad. He was arrested by Madhapur police after pulling off similar frauds.
After coming out on bail, he conceived a new way to trap people and became a movie producer and started an office in a rented flat at Banjara Hills. Travelling in posh rented cars and changing mobiles frequently, he made his targets believe that he was genuine. With active presence on social media platforms, he attracted money people luring them with movie offers.
In one such instance, he met a fashion designer on Facebook and promised her the role of costume designer for his upcoming movie. After this, they started meeting frequently and he even became a close family friend. During one of his visits to her home, he found that her brother is looking for a job.