Hyderabad – Hyderabad police have arrested a 32-year-old former Andhra Pradesh cricketer for allegedly impersonating a senior official from the Telangana Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in an attempt to defraud prominent business figures.
The Cyber Crime Police identified the accused as Budumuru Nagaraju, a former Ranji cricketer and Srikakulam native. Nagaraju is reported to have created a fake email ID, reventhreddyosd@gmail.com, and used it to send fraudulent emails to various business persons. In these communications, he falsely represented himself as the Personal Secretary and Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister of Telangana State.
Police stated that Nagaraju employed a combination of email, WhatsApp, and phone calls to contact and attempt to deceive his targets. The investigation was initiated after the OSD to the Telangana CM filed a complaint regarding the fraudulent activity. The complaint detailed how an individual, using a specific mobile number, was sending fake emails and making WhatsApp calls, falsely claiming to be the OSD’s Personal Secretary and Officer on Special Duty. One instance cited involved contacting Krishna Mohan Bollineni, MD of Bollineni Infra Projects.
A case has been registered against Nagaraju under sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Authorities revealed that Nagaraju has a history of similar offenses, with 13 prior cases in Telangana and 16 in Andhra Pradesh. Furthermore, a Non-Bailable Warrant is currently pending against him in the XII additional chief metropolitan magistrate court, Nampally.
In his previous fraudulent activities, Nagaraju reportedly posed as high-profile political associates, including the personal secretaries of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, former AP CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, and former Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao, among others, leading to his arrest in multiple cities.