Warangal: 2 held for duping family of 29 lakh

Warangal: The CCS and Subedari police on Thursday arrested two persons including a woman for duping gullible people promising to cure health problems through supernatural powers.

The police seized Rs 23 lakh in cash and gold jewellery worth around Rs 6 lakh from them. The accused were identified as 50-year-old Kolipaka Padma alias Renuka of Vangara village under Kamalapur Mandal in Warangal Urban district, residing in Julaiwada, and 42-year-old Tulisegari Rajababu of Dhanvada village under Kataram Mandal in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, who residing in Excise Colony of Hanamkonda.

Disclosing details to media persons here, Commissioner of Police V Ravinder said that Padma, a maidservant, who belongs to Vangara village, shifted to Julaiwada in Hanamkonda in search of livelihood some time ago. Noticing the health and other problems faced by her landlord Munja Venkataswamy's family, she hatched a plan to exploit them in the name of solving their issues with the help of Rajababu, who also worked with the same landlord.

The duo, which observed the health problems faced by the grandson of Venkataswamy, made him to believe that Padma would cure it by invoking Goddess Renuka Ammavaru. Meanwhile, Venkataswamy's grandson recovered after he got treatment in a hospital. However, the duo claimed credit for the boy's health and took Rs 4 lakh from Venkataswamy in October 2018.

Later, the duo also cheated the relatives of Venkataswamy squeezing Rs 11 lakh from them. Exploiting the family's superstitions, the duo took another Rs 10 lakh besides a promissory note for Rs 15 lakh after Venkataswamy suffered heart stroke. With the help of Padma, Rajababu also extorted Venkataswamy and got his property papers forcibly. Against this backdrop, Venkataswamy lodged a complaint with the Subedari Police.

The CCS Police swung into action and collected the evidence and arrested the duo. The Commissioner lauded the East Zone DCP K R Nagaraju, Crime ACP Bapu Rao, CCS and Subedari Inspectors Ramesh Kumar and Ajay for nabbing the culprits.