Three held for cheating unmarried girls

Eluru: The Bhimadolu police arrested three members of a gang involved in cheating unmarried girls’ families with false promises of marriage and job opportunities at organisations like ISRO. The leader of the gang, Asham Anil Babu, also known as Kalyan Reddy, from Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district, married four girls using this deceitful scheme. Asham Anil Babu, who had only completed Class IX education and hailed from Khammam district, resorted to cheating families in order to make easy money.

He registered with a private matrimony service and used the contact details of girls’ profiles to approach their families. He posed as Kalyan Reddy’s father and falsely claimed that Kalyan Reddy worked as an HR in ISRO. He also fabricated stories about Kalyan Reddy’s parents being engineers at ISRO, their son-in-law and daughter living in the USA, and their family owning two villas and 100 acres of land.

During engagements and marriage receptions, he employed individuals to pose as his parents and relatives. After gathering information about the families, he promised them jobs at ISRO in exchange for large sums of money, which he transferred to various accounts. He also showed rented villas, claiming they were his own, and rented a farm house in Chevella, Hyderabad, and a villa in Bangalore to carry out his fraudulent activities.

He had a team to assist him, including a personal assistant, a watchman, a lady assistant, and other staff.

Additionally, he had a partner named Kashi to provide advice and a priest to officiate the marriages. One of his victims, Gunda Lakshmi Kumari from Gundugolanu village, Bhimadolu mandal, was cheated out of approximately Rs 9,53,000, with promises of marriage for her second daughter and a job at ISRO for her third daughter. Another accomplice, Tunga Shashanka, conducted a fake interview and issued a fraudulent appointment letter.

A case was filed in 2023 at the Bhimadolu police station for cheating and taking money under false pretenses. In total, the gang managed to steal around Rs 1.5 crore from numerous victims. The police recovered Rs 2 lakh in cash, a car, five mobile phones, 13 mobile SIM cards, a computer used for creating fake appointment letters, laptops used for sending fake interviews and emails, fake appointment letters, blank fake appointment letters, bank cheque books, and other documents from arrested members. Eluru District SP K Pratap Shiva Kishore commended the police staff who investigated the case and awarded them with cash prizes and certificates of appreciation.