Inspired by Suriya-starrer Telugu movie Gang, a man from Karnataka’s Chikkaballapura district has allegedly extorted crores of money from over 60 government officials in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by posing as a Lokayukta officer, officials said.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials on Tuesday arrested Srinath Reddy, 31, a Class 10 pass-out who has 36 cases against him in the three states.
A police officer said Reddy extorted more than Rs 3 crore from the officials and spent the money to lead a luxurious life, with frequent visits to casinos in Goa. Most of the money was spent in air travel and visits to tourist places within the country, he said.
In Gang, which is based on Hindi film ‘Special 26’, the hero forms a gang who impersonate Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials to extort money from corrupt government officials.
The initial probe has revealed that Reddy has been operating since 2019.
Srinath Reddy, who lives in Bagepalli with his wife and children, was arrested based on a complaint from Ramdas, a government official after he received an extortion call, said Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B Dayananda.
Reddy was earlier arrested in several theft cases.
According to Dayananda, Reddy collected the phone numbers of government officials, ring them up and would introduce himself as Lokayukta inspector Chandrashekar.
“He would tell the officer that there were several complaints against him and would seek bribes to close the case by filing a ‘B’ report,” the commissioner said.