TIRUPATI: Two con men — who duped 28 elected representatives in the twin Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — over the last decade were arrested by the Tirupati police in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district following a similar unsuccessful bid on Tirupati MP M Gurumoorthy.
An anonymous caller posing himself as a CMO staffer called up Gurumoorthy on January 14 claiming that the Centre sanctioned Rs 5 crore to the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency and asked him to transfer Rs 25 lakh as challan charges.
The Tirupati MP, who suspected the caller, lodged a police complaint, following which two persons, identified as Thota Balaji Naidu and Mekala Abhishek, were arrested.
Thota Balaji Naidu — who is a former staffer of National Thermal Power Corporation Limited — met Abhishek at a prison and the duo hatched a plan to trap elected representatives using central government schemes as bait and dupe them of their money.
Since 2010, the duo has duped about 28 elected representatives in the two Telugu states.
Their victims list includes state and central ministers, MPs, MLAs and others.
According to the police, the duo duped people of over Rs 70 lakh.
