The city police arrested a habitual offender today, who specialises in cheating MLAs and MPs, by making them shell out money.
A former employee of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), T Balaji Naidu was arrested for allegedly cheating three MPs after making them deposit amount to the tune of over Rs 2 lakh under the pretext of collecting registration fees for a state government-run skill development programme for the youth, police said.
Allegedly, he collected over Rs 2 lakh from MPs Hanumantha Rao, P Govardhan (both Congress) and Devender Goud (Telugu Desam) recently, before he was arrested, they said.
The conman does not have any political inclinations for cheating and he has already been arrested 17 times earlier for cheating 22 MLAs and MPs of different political parties to the tune of several lakhs of rupees, the police said.
This modus operandi was to target MLAs and MPs after collecting their phone numbers and then introduce himself as "project director" of the 'Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu', a state government skill development programme for the youth.
Later, he used to ask them to send him applications of unemployed youth from their respective constituencies, along with registration fees and deposit these amounts in the bank account of his associate. Once the amount is deposited, he used to withdraw it and flee, the police said.
