Cybercrime blackmail racket busted, two held

Kurnool: Acting on the directions of Nandyal District Superintendent of Police Suneel Sheoran, the Kovelakuntla Police arrested two persons involved in a cybercrime blackmail case. The arrests were made under the supervision of Allagadda DSP Police Officer K Pramod, with Kovelakuntla Circle Inspector P Hanumantha Nayak leading the investigation.

The accused allegedly impersonated as police officials and others to extort money from unsuspecting victims.

The arrested accused were identified as Akkapalli Chandrashekar alias A Chandrashekar (32) and Dasari Sandeep Kumar (27), both natives of Hanwada village and mandal in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana. Police said the duo operated from Telangana while targeting victims in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states, using digital payment platforms such as PhonePe and bank accounts to collect money. According to DSP Pramod, on January 28, , Chandrashekar allegedly called a resident of Kovelakuntla, Karnati Pratap Reddy, posing as a Sub-Inspector from Gadwal, Telangana.

He falsely claimed that the complainant had sent messages to a conductor’s wife, leading to an alleged suicide attempt by her, and demanded Rs 4 lakh to “settle” the matter. Subsequently, the second accused, Sandeep Kumar, spoke to the complainant pretending to be the conductor and managed to extract Rs 30,000 through PhonePe, following which a cybercrime case was registered at Kovelakuntla Police Station.

During the investigation, police found that the accused had cheated several victims over the past two months, collecting nearly Rs 15 lakh by threatening them with false criminal cases, including Section 51-like charges. The victims were reportedly identified through comments and chats on the Threads app, after which they were blackmailed.