'Prize catch' is a look-alike

HYDERABAD: Fake passport rackets have been making an appearance in the city with some regularity. And it''s not hard to see why. The September 4 charade organised by the Begumpet police, claiming the arrest of a kingpin of the racket, says it all.
On that day, the Begumpet police announced the arrest of the kingpin M Ramachandra Reddy who, they claimed, was caught near Paradise crossroads following a tip-off.The team, led by ACP D Reddanna and inspector Y Devadanam called a press conference to announce their prize arrest and claimed credit for busting the racket.
However, investigations by The Times of India revealed that the arrested ''kingpin'' was not Ramachandra Reddy but a person named Raghu. To get out of the sticky situation, police immediately slapped a case of impersonation on Raghu. They altered their stand, and are now claiming that Raghu was not ''arrested'' but had ''surrendered to mislead police at the behest of Ramachandra Reddy.'' However, it is alleged that the police officials involved in investigating the case sought to pass off Raghu as Reddy in return "for a consideration."
It may be recalled that the Begumpet police had earlier claimed that Ramachandra Reddy, who runs a travel agency, used to collect huge amounts from people — mostly Gujaratis — and arrange fake passports and other travel documents to enable them to go to the US. The racket was busted in June this year when a woman was caught by immigration officials at Hyderabad airport. The woman disclosed the names of agents who provided her with the travel documents.
Police then arrested the associates of Ramachandra Reddy claiming that the latter was absconding. Devadanam told The Times of India that the racketeers "had sent Raghu to police in a pre-planned manner as there were striking similarities in appearance between Raghu and Ramachandra Reddy." In the same breath, the inspector adds: "We do not know how Ramachandra Reddy looks."
At the press meet, the officers also claimed that Reddy runs New York Travel Agency in Babu Khan Estate, located a few yards away from the city police commissioner''s office in Basheerbagh. But enquiries revealed that no such office exists there currently.