Two arrested for cheating ZPTC members

Hyderabad: The Central Crime Station (CCS) Detective Department, Hyderabad, on Monday arrested two alleged fraudsters, including a student, on charges of cheating Zila Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) members on the pretext of releasing Central government funds. Police recovered a cell phone and a SIM card from the possession of the arrested.

The arrested were identified as Banala Madhu, 28, a native of Karimnagar district and Janjerla Rajashekar, 22, a student of Ramagundam mandal in Karimnagar district. Explaining the modus operandi, CCS inspector P Ravi Kiran said Madhu targeted the ZPTC members in various districts in Telangana State and collected the phone numbers through Internet.

“Posing as Chief Secretary, he told the members that the NDA government had released Rs 5 lakh each to ZPTC members, including those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, to financially support them and asked them to deposit Rs 30,000 towards income tax for the release of the funds.

Rajasekhar’s SBH account number was used for transaction of money for which he was paid Rs 5,000 for each transaction,” the Inspector said. Two ZPTC members had fallen prey to the ploy employed by Madhu and deposited Rs 30,000 each, he added. The accused were remanded to judicial custody.