Former Ranji Trophy Cricketer Arrested; Know Why

Hyderabad: Budumuru Nagaraju, who represented Andhra Pradesh in Ranji Trophy between 2014 and 2016, was arrested here on Saturday.

The charge against the 25-year-old is that he impersonated the personal secretary of Telangana minister KT Rama Rao and duped nine corporate companies of nearly Rs 40 lakh.

Nagaraju, who hails from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh and holds an MBA degree, is a habitual offender.

He was earlier nabbed arrested in 10 cases between 2018 and 2020. Presently, his name has come up in connection with nine other cases of cheating filed by hospitals, realtors and educational institutions in 2021.

According to Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar, Nagaraju made phone calls to corporate companies, hospitals, realtors, educational institutions on numbers available on Google. He used to introduce himself as Bandari Tirupathi, personal secretary to Rama Rao and informed them that the minister would be sworn in as Telangana CM.

He would demand money from them to put up hoardings and to give advertisements in print and electronic media for swearing-in ceremony at Lal Bahadur stadium.

“He cheated nine corporate companies and collected an amount of Rs 39,22,400,” the commissioner informed.

After getting bail in the previous cases across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Nagaraju continued with his cheating plans. The police received multiple complaints and set up a Task Force to trap him.