It was like rubbing salt into the wound. The family members were in mourning, and a person who came to offer condolences duped them of ₹5,000.
Indraganthi Srikanth Sarma, a writer and father of film director Mohan Krishna, passed away in Hyderabad last week. A woman claiming to be the daughter of former MP and engineering genius who built Nagarjunsagar Project, K.L. Rao, came to offer her condolences. She claimed that she was a retired IAS officer and that she needed money for treatment of some chronic ailment. The grieving family members, who did not have time to cross check, gave her ₹5,000 and the woman left.
Since six years
Sujatha Rao, daughter of K.L. Rao, is aware that an imposter has been scamming people in her name. This has been happening for six years now.
The mystery woman always arrives in a taxi and gives her name as Sujatha Rao and asks for money for treatment. She collected lakhs of rupees in Vijayawada Parliamentary constituency for building a fitting memorial for K.L. Rao, who is referred to as the ‘Father of Irrigation’.
K.L. Rao worked as a Union Minister in the Cabinets of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Sastry and Indira Gandhi. He was conferred the Padma Shri in 1963.
Ms. Sujatha Rao, who worked as Union Health Secretary, retired a few years ago. She is currently heading a committee of experts constituted by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government to come up with an action plan to revive the Aarogyasri Scheme, the 108 and 104 Ambulance services and the health care sector in the State.
Frequent travels
Ms. Sujatha Rao after retirement has settled down in Hyderabad, but is known to travel frequently abroad to do research for her books on healthcare. She is also a regular contributor to many national newspapers and portals.
The frequent absence of Ms. Sujatha Rao has come in handy for the imposter to strike. The day the imposter visited the Indraganthi family, Ms. Sujatha Rao was in Vijayawada on Government of Andhra Pradesh work.
A complaint has been lodged with police with a photograph in Hyderabad to no avail. One of the victim was smart enough to take a picture with a mobile, but the police have no other leads on the woman. The imposter’s powers of persuasion seem to be formidable because there is a DGP in list of her victims. The woman managed to get ₹5,000 from the senior police officer.
