40-year-old Andhra man arrested for cheating MPs, MLAs

A 40-year-old man was arrested in Puducherry by the teams of Loan, Insurance and Matrimonial offences of Cyber Crimes of Hyderabad allegedly for cheating MLAs and MPs on the pretext of providing loans.

The man who was arrested on Sunday has been identified as Thota Balaji Naidu who hails from Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh.

He used to pose as Deputy Secretary of the Finance Department of the Telangana Secretariat. On the pretext of providing loans to the Other Classes, Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and minorities under the scheme of PMEGP (Pradhan Mantri Employee Generation Programme) he used to loot MPs, Ex-MLAs and MLAs to set up a new business.

"The accused used to collect an initial deposit of five per cent of the desired loan amount through online transfers. He would collect the phone numbers of public representatives from the party offices and party legislature offices," stated a press release issued by the Joint Commissioner of Detective Department, Hyderabad.

"Then he would introduce himself as a government official at Secretariat of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and lure them stating that the central government funds in crores have been sanctioned for their constituency under schemes of PMEGP (Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme)," the release stated.

So far, about 60 cheating cases have been registered against him in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.