Man arrested from AP for posing as Raj CM and attempting to dupe Congress MLA

Jaipur: A man has been arrested from Visakhapatnam for attempting to dupe an MLA posing as Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot in a WhatsApp call. The fraudster asked for Rs 30,000 from the MLA of the Tijara constituency of Rajasthan. It has come up during preliminary investigation that he had already duped several ministers and MLAs of Andhra Pradesh of about Rs 2 crore.

Congress MLA Sandeep Yadav received a WhatsApp call five days ago. The caller ID had the photo of CM Ashok Gehlot. Posing as Gehlot, he struck a conversation with Yadav and later demanded Rs 30,000. He was using a virtual number.

The MLA got suspicious when the caller asked for money, that too a paltry sum of Rs 30,000. He informed the Jaipur Police about the call. When the call turned out to be fake, he registered a complaint with Bhiwadi police. Bhiwadi SP Shantanu Kumar said that the MLA had registered a complaint in this regard. After this, a police team with the help of Jaipur Police identified the accused as Pandiri Vishnu Murthy. The team was sent to Visakhapatnam. The police caught him with the help of the local police there.

Murthy has cheated many MLAs and ministers in Andhra Pradesh. The accused was arrested by the police from Visakhapatnam and brought to Alwar. There are already four cases registered against Murthy in Andhra Pradesh under the IT Act. He has also committed fraud in the name of CM Jagmohan Reddy in which he had cheated over Rs 1 crore from three MLAs and two ministers.

Murthy called Pendurthi MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana and posed as PS Srinivas of Chandrababu Naidu. He demanded 10 lakhs. The MLA transferred the money. When Jaganmohan Reddy became the CM of Andhra Pradesh, Murthy contacted Palasa MLA Siddiri Appala Raju and posing as the PA of the CM, he took Rs 15 lakh from him.