A gang of four, which allegedly tricked a businessman from Kadapa into parting with nearly ₹11 crore, was busted by the Bachupally police on Wednesday.
One of the gang members Ankireddy Vijay Kumar Reddy, who led the businessman P. Veera Reddy to believe that he was selected for IPS, ended his life by hanging 19 days ago. Among the arrested was Vijay Kumar Reddy’s father Raghava Reddy who was working as Assistant Sub-Inspector of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) but claimed to be Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central).
Other arrested members of the gang are Smriti Simha, who was in a live-in relationship with Vijay Kumar Reddy. She falsely claimed that she was chairperson of the International Human Rights Commission for entire south India. The other two arrested accused are Ranadhir Reddy and Ramakrishna Reddy.
Smriti Simha got separated from her husband and was living with her teenaged son and daughter. She used to run a supermarket at Borabanda where she met Vijay Kumar Reddy, a computer programme installer. “Their friendship blossomed into love and they started living together,” Madhapur DCP in-charge M. Venkateshwarlu said.
With the supermarket in losses, the couple was on the lookout to make fast bucks and wanted to lead a lavish lifestyle by hook or crook. They shifted to a posh gated community in Bachupally where Veera Reddy was their neighbour. They happened to meet at local football ground. With his extrovert nature and communication skills, Vijay Kumar Reddy impressed Veera Reddy and led the latter to believe that he was selected for the IPS and was going to Dehradun and other places for training. He introduced Smriti Simha as his wife, claiming that she was chairperson of a human rights body.
Vijay Kumar Reddy used to pose as a rich person and boasted of being from an affluent family. “He would often claim that his family owned over 70 Volvo buses and had 35 acres of parking space in Bachupally,” the DCP explained. Winning the trust of Veera Reddy, he started asking for hand loans of amounts ranging from a few lakh rupees.
Veera Reddy went on transferring the money to Vijay. “With that money, Vijay bought three BMW cars and a couple of other high-end vehicles. Value of these vehicles was around ₹ 4 crore to ₹5 crore,” Mr. Venkateshwarlu said. With the money thus secured from Veera Reddy, the couple purchased a villa worth ₹1.30 crore and paid ₹70 lakh. Smriti Simha even purchased gold and other jewellery worth ₹50 lakh with that money.
“Somehow Veera Reddy grew suspicious of Vijay’s claims of him being a candidate selected for IPS and started insisting on details of his training,” the DCP said. Realising that his game was up, Vijay ended his life on this February 5, the DCP said.
Five high-end cars, gold and silver ornaments worth ₹50 lakh, and ₹2 lakh cash were recovered from the arrested Smriti Simha, Raghava Reddy, Ranadhir Reddy and Ramakrishna Reddy.
