Fraudster in Hyderabad cons film bigwigs with vaccination promise

HYDERABAD: A fraudster duped film producer D Suresh Babu’s manager of Rs 1 lakh by promising to provide 500 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to his staff. The accused, T Nagendra Babu, was recently arrested by Cyberabad police in similar cases. According to deputy commissioner of police (DCP), West Zone, A R Srinivas, a complaint was lodged by Vamsi, manager of film producer Suresh Babu, with Jubilee Hills police on Monday alleging that a fraudster called them a few weeks ago promising to provide 500 doses of vaccine to the staff.
The fraudster demanded Rs 1 lakh as advance to set up vaccination programme and Vamsi transferred the amount to a bank account given by the accused.
As the accused did not get back, a police complaint was lodged on Monday and a cheating case was registered. Meanwhile, Jubilee Hills police came to know that the fraudster was arrested by Cyberabad cyber crime police for committing similar frauds.
Five days ago, Cyberabad police had arrested T Nagendra Babu, 27, a chef at a hotel in Chennai, for duping a TV channel manager of Rs 1.5 lakh and Tollywood actor Ali of Rs 1 lakh by promising to arrange Covid-19 vaccination for staff and co-workers. Babu had also duped a garments store owner in Jubilee Hills of Rs 1 lakh by promising to provide vaccination.
Police also realised that Babu had duped another film actor for about Rs 1 lakh by promising to ensure an award, and he also duped three others from the city and Vijayawada in the guise of providing fancy phone numbers.