FAKE AP GOVT LETTERHEAD RACKET BY BUSINESSMAN IN HYDERABAD TO EXTORT MONEY

New Delhi: A fake Letterhead racket was busted in New Delhi and a Hyd businessman AVN Reddy who is claiming to be the Managing Director of Roshni Crops is involved in extortion by using fake AP Government letterheads and to file FIR complaint against one NS Venkatesh in Delhi, the African news agency has said on Saturday.

According to Maria Oliver, an Investigative journalist, AVN Reddy who is from Hyderabad city, was involved in the business of preparing fake letterheads of Andhra Pradesh Government with title of Honorary wildlife warden and using address of a camp office Jubilee Hills and this came to light when it was spotted that the spelling of Environment is printed as ENIVIRONMENT. Investigation of this enquiry with the Commissioner of Printing Stationary & Stores Purchase, AP Government is under process as they are the authority to supply government letterheads to officials.

“It has come to light that the suspect was using this letterhead with AP Government logo and filed a false complaint with the Rajinder Nagar Police Station in New Delhi on 12 January 2024 falsely claiming that he paid 1 crore rupees in cash to one NS Venkatesh on 29 August 2022. A probe is being conducted on the suspected racket. We are probing whether any serving or retired AP Government officers are linked to the suspect. The Resident Commissioner of AP in New Delhi and Chief Secretary of AP has received this complaint to probe the matter and submit the response to the investigating authorities,” said an officer.

Multiple cases of fraudsters posing as Government officials have been unearthed by various police jurisdictions following inputs from the authorities over the last few years. Various similar cases have been reported from other respected individuals in the society in which AVN Reddy is posing as Government official and posting messages blackmailing and abusing with various aliases Arjun reddy on the social media and a complaint has been lodged with the Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajinder Nagar in New Delhi on 5 March. In the context of the presence of such cases, they pose a serious threat to security, officials said.

Suspicion arose as to how the cash amount of Rs. 1 crore was made to NS Venkatesh and for what purpose. The Investigation team is discussing with the Vigilance department of the Income tax in Hyderabad to ascertain if the income was declared as cash in hand in the balance sheets for his claim of paying 1 crore rupees.

Officials said that in all the cases of impersonation of Government servants, the suspects have had a motive to cheat respected people in the society in addition to taking advantage of their status as highly decorated officials or personnel. The investigators have also observed that the suspect prefer to be present in areas surrounding foreign diplomats, consulates, bureaucrats where the movement of VIPs is a common sight. He has been taking advantage of such situation and blackmailing the organization that appointed him as a Honorary Chairman to do trade with African countries especially COMESA countries which are in East and South Africa.

The Victim NS Venkatesh as approached the High Court in New Delhi who have posted the matter and asked submission to be made in a week.