Man claiming to be close aide of HYDRAA Commissioner demands Rs. 20 lakh from builders, arrested

The construction compnay owner,however, alerted the police about the blackmailer and he was caught red-handed while accepting Rs.2 lakh from the complainant

Sangareddy: Exploiting the fear of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Protection Agency (HYDRAA), a physiotherapist blackmailed and demanded Rs.20 lakh from a construction company threatening to call the demolition agency to take action against them.

However, the company owner alerted the police about the blackmailer and he was caught red-handed while accepting Rs.2 lakh from the complainant.

---

The accused, Dr Bandla Viplav Sinha (42), was residing in Sail Villas Colony in Ameenpur municipality. With the HYDRAA focusing on illegal constructions near nalas and lakes, Viplav saw it as an opportunity to threaten builders. As MCOR builders had taken construction of villas in the Ameenpur area, Viplav decided to exploit the opportunity.

HYDRAA Commissioner AV Ranganath had visited Ameenpur to see encroachments in different parts of Ameenpur on August 14. The same night, Viplav called MCOR representative Rajendar and alleging encroachments, he threatened to leak the information to Ranganath.

He asked Rajendar to meet him on August 18, and showed him a photo of Ranganath claiming that he was very close to the senior official. He also threatened to get negative news on the construction company published in newspapers. Assuring to “manage” everything with Ranganath, he demanded Rs.20 lakh.

Later, Viplav struck a deal with the builder for Rs.16 lakh on August 25. However, the builder alerted the Ameenpur police. Following directions from Superintendent of Police Chennuri Rupesh, Ameenpur police and the Task Force caught Viplav while he was accepting Rs 2 lakh from Rajendar and his business partner Manjunath Reddy on Tuesday.

The police registered an extortion case under Section 308 (5) of BNS, against Viplav. He was produced before court and remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday.

Rupesh said they were probing whether Viplav had committed any such crimes in the past. The SP called upon the people to call the local police if anyone demanded money using such tactics.