Man cheats engineering student of 30 lakh, held

Ongole: The Prakasam district police arrested a man for cheating an engineering student for Rs 30 lakh in the name of betting in Ongole on Monday. According to SP Bhusarapu Satya Yesubabu, after the death of his father, Chaluvadi Pavan Kumar of Ongole was managing his family assets along with continuing his engineering education.

He was convinced by Yemireddy Narendra Reddy, a PET teacher from Gullapalli in Maddipadu mandal to invest money in betting of cricket, pro kabaddi, and shuttle badminton matches to earn huge returns. Believing him innocently, Pavan Kumar handed over Rs 20 lakh, the insurance money received after the death of his father, 300 grams of gold biscuits and a chain to Narendra Reddy. In the meantime, Narendra Reddy informed that he lost all money and was due for another Rs 10 lakh in the name of Pavan Kumar to the betting company.

Unable to withstand the pressure from Narendra Reddy for more money, Pavan Kumar and his family members lodged a complaint with the police. The police arrested Narendra Reddy on Monday and recovered Rs 12.70 lakh in cash and 3 gold biscuits, a total worth of Rs 23.70 lakh. The accused confessed to the police that he gave the remaining money of Rs 6.30 lakh to a friend by name Mahesh, for betting but cheated by him.

The SP announced that a case under Sections of 420, 406 and 506 of IPC was registered against Narendra Reddy and his friend Mahesh for betting and cheating. He warned that the college students were occasionally found to be involving in the betting and ruining their lives.

He said that if once they were booked by the police, they will lose all their career and they and their family members would face social stigma. He advised them to restrain from the people encouraging them to bet or any illegal activities and inform about them to police.

Yesubabu also said that there is a significant rise in the crimes of cybercrime and OTP crimes. He said that educated people are also falling prey to the OTP thefts.