HYDERABAD: Exposing the spreading tentacles of the begging mafia in the city, Malakpet police and Task Force sleuths on Sunday apprehended Amma Cheyutha Foundation organiser, two collection agents and six beggars. The police seized Rs 1.3 lakh cash, and documents of properties at Turkayamjal, Badangpet and Nadargul.
South East Zone DCP Ch Rupesh said, “Kethavath Ravi and his brother Kethavath Mangu approached Amma Cheyutha Foundation organiser Gaddi Ganesh in 2020 with a proposal to rope in persons to seek alms in the name of the foundation which claims to work for the welfare of the disabled.”
Putting their plan into practice, the trio hired unemployed women, students and homemakers to seek donations (alms) at traffic junctions for the foundation. “Six beggars who were taken into custody were given collection boxes, ID cards and visiting cards by the foundation. They were dropped at busy traffic junctions with instructions to beg money from commuters in the name of Amma Cheyutha Foundation. Later in the evening, they would be picked up and dropped at their homes. They were given 35 per cent of the daily collection. They also created a QR code linked to their bank accounts and pasted it on the collection boxes so that people without cash could pay them,” said the DCP.
It was found that Ganesh and his partners even purchased properties at Turkayamjal, Badangpet and Nadargul. The police seized collection boxes containing Rs 13,474 and a notebook containing the details of the daily collection from alms.