Dy CM Asks SP to Hunt for 'Cheat' on the Run

RAJAHMUNDRY: Home minister Nimmakayala Chinnarajappa has directed the East Godavari superintendent of police to take steps to nab a ‘high flying’ job cheat named Avinash Dev Chandra.

Telephonically apprising Express of this from Hyderabad on Tuesday, the minister said that not only would severe action be taken against the cheat but also against the policemen who had been lenient towards him.

It may be mentioned here that the Peddapuram police had taken Avinash into custody following a complaint from a Kakinada-based woman that he had cheated her and her sons and that he was threatening them but had let him off on some trivial grounds.     

Now, following Chinnarajappa’s directive, the Peddapuram police have registered two cases against Avinash, based on some video-clippings in which he is seen beating some of his victims for questioning him about the promised jobs and the money given to him by them. The police have also formed five special squads to nab Avinash, who is on the run.

When contacted, additional superintendent of police Damodar exuded confidence that the accused would be nabbed shortly.

According to a police source, Avinash had cheated scores of people of lakhs of rupees by promising to get them government jobs or political posts in East Godavari district. They said the victims were perhaps easily taken in by the conman’s red beacon-topped car and his claim that he was the ‘South Zone chairman of International Human Rights Commission’. Avinash is suspected to have high-level political contacts because of which he was able to move around in a red beacon-topped car.    

The conman is said to have studied up to 10th Class in Peddapuram and later migrated to Pothavaram, near Bhadrachalam, along with his family.