The city police on Tuesday caught a businessman for allegedly posing as an IAS officer and promising devotees special darshan tickets in Tirumala.
The arrested person, H. Venkataramana Rao, hailing from Kurnool called a priest Narasimha Charyulu from Ziaguda and took him into confidence saying he had attended a puja performed by the latter once and
promised to arrange a special darshan ticket at Tirumala. He said he wanted to gift ‘Abhishekam Vastram Seva’ and ‘Udayaastam Seva’ tickets to the priest as he is an IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre. He later claimed to have some more tickets for pujas and said interested persons can deposit the necessary charges in his account to get tickets.
To help some persons for having darshan through seva tickets, the priest deposited around Rs.13 lakh. Rao vanished after getting the money, said DCP (Detective Department) Pala Raju. Police collected Rao’s bank details and traced his address, from where he was picked up.
Six held for murder
The city police on Tuesday arrested six persons, including a minor boy, on the charge of killing a shopkeeper at Miralam Mandi seven days ago following an argument over playing cricket near his shop.
Mohammed Ali alias Nadeem (31) was attacked with knives and sticks leading to his death. Police said Mohd. Dawood Khan, Syed Ayazuddin, Mohd. Azhar Khan, Mohd. Aleem, Tareeq Ahmed and the boy attacked Nadeem and his friend Shahbaz, resulting in grievous injuries to them.
Driver catches fire, dies
A 22-year-old tanker driver died while the cleaner sustained serious burns when the tanker caught fire at Nacharam on Monday night. The accident occurred when the driver, Srinivas, lit a matchstick to check for chemicals inside the tanker after unloading it. The matchstick fell inside the tanker and suddenly flames erupted. Both Srinivas and the cleaner, Eshwar Rao, caught fire. Srinivas was declared dead on arrival by doctors at a private hospital, while Rao is undergoing treatment.
