Man ends up in jail for attempt to cover losses from online betting

Singarayakonda: A man, who lost about Rs 5 lakh on online betting, tried to recover from the loss by threatening the rich in the name of Maoists, but ended up in jail.

At a press meet at Singarayakonda police station on Friday, Ongole DSP U Nagaraju said that they received a complaint from Appala Raghupati that he found an letter allegedly from Maoists tied to the window of his photo studio on June 28 morning. The victim said that the letter was from a person, namely Venkata Reddy, who demanded Rs 5 lakh as support to Maoist party.

It was also written in the letter that failing which Maoist team members would attack the photographer and his family members and inject blood containing HIV.

After the complaint by Raghupati, another man from the town, Masanam Venkatarao also approached police that he also received a similar letter with a demand for Rs 5 lakh.

Following the instructions of SP Malika Garg and under the supervision of DSP Nagaraju, a special team with CI Devakumar, local CI Lakshman and SI Lanka Sampath Kumar was formed. The team observed local CCTV footage and found Nimmakayala Srinivasa Rao of K Bitragunta village as the offender and arrested him on Friday. The DSP said that Srinivasa Rao lost Rs 4.80 lakh on Teen Patti betting app, which he got by mortgaging gold in his home. To recover from the loss and to bring the gold back, he wanted to earn money easily. With the inspiration from a Maoist on YouTube, Srinivasa Rao also tried to threaten the rich by writing letters to them. The DSP said that they are presenting the accused before the local court for remand.