VISAKHAPATNAM:The city police Friday arrested P Ramesh Naidu, who posed as an IAS officer and duped jobless youth of about Rs 3 crore.
Some of the victims met the commissioner of police and lodged a complaint Thursday, after which the cops immediately swung into action and nabbed Ramesh Naidu, a native of Srikakulam district residing in East Point Colony here, Friday.
Revealing the details to the newsmen, deputy commissioner of police (L&O, zone-1) CM Trivikrama Varma said that the accused did his MSc (Geography) from AU and was posing as an IAS officer for the past few years. Claiming himself to be the regional director of industries, he collected money from unemployed people by promising them jobs in several PSUs and government departments including railway, police, EPDCL and GVMC.
One A Siva Kumar, who gave Rs 12 lakh to Ramesh Naidu for getting a place as a supervisor in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, approached the police after realising that he was conned. Similarly, 13 more victims lodged complaints with the cops. The accused reportedly had connections with a few IAS and IPS officers based not only in Andhra Pradesh but also other states, the DCP added. So far, the police found that Ramesh Naidu collected Rs 73 lakh from these 14 youths. They also recovered the call data of Ramesh Naidu and are investigating further.