After 12 years of duping job aspirants, fake Navy officer from AP lands in police net

Visakhapatnam: For 45-year-old G Satya Surya Chalapathi Rao alias Srikanth, cheating gullible youth by offering them jobs in the Indian Navy in lieu of large sums was his means of funding his lavish lifestyle. Posing as a naval officer, he has duped several youngsters in Vizag, Vijayawada and Hyderabad.However, Chalapathi Rao, who was on the run for more than three years in connection with a cheating case registered at the New Port police station in Vizag city, was arrested by the Vizag police in Hyderabad recently. Investigation revealed that he was arrested earlier, too, in cheating cases registered under the Parawada, Harbour, New Port and Two-Town police limits in Vizag city, and in one case in Vijayawada. A few years ago, he was arrested by the Vizag city police for allegedly trying to enter the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) base in the garb of a Navy officer with the intention of defrauding Agniveer aspirants.Chalapathi Rao, an alumnus of a Sainik school in Odisha, is a BTech graduate and briefly worked as a civil engineer, but took to crime over a decade ago to make easy money. Since some of his schoolmates became officers in the Indian Navy, he also posed as one and began duping youths by charging them 5 lakh to 10 lakh after promising them jobs in the force.A senior police officer said Chalapathi Rao posed as an officer of captain rank, used a fake identity card, and sported a Navy uniform to attract unemployed youths in Vizag and surrounding areas. He would promise them jobs at the naval dockyard and ghost them after collecting the money.According to sources, Chalapathi Rao had even married a woman by posing as a naval officer. However, they got separated after she got to know of his shenanigans. He went on remarry, this time a Hyderabad-based doctor. "Based on a concrete clue, we managed to nab him in Hyderabad. Chalapathi Rao is a fraudster with an over 12-year history of duping gullible youth," said a police officer in Vizag city. Though he was arrested in the past, he had been coming up with new ways to dupe youth, the police added.

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