Mancherial: Youth posing as IAS officer dupes jobless, arrested

Two luxurious cars, a motorbike and Rs 2.5 lakh cash were recovered from the accused, Barla Laxminarayana, an engineering student

Mancherial: An engineering student was arrested for allegedly duping the gullible public by posing as an IAS officer and by offering jobs with various government departments, here on Saturday. Two luxurious cars, a motorbike and Rs 2.5 lakh cash were recovered from him.

Deputy Commissioner of Police D Uday Kumar Reddy told media persons that the accused Barla Laxminarayana, a 22-year-old resident of Lekhalapalli village in Beerpur mandal of Jagitial district, was studying the third year at a private engineering college in Hyderabad. He was arrested following the complaints lodged by Tallapalli Ramesh and Swetha belonging to Jagitial.

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During the subsequent interrogations, Laxminarayana confessed to have committed the offence to earn easy money and to lead a lavish lifestyle from 2020 to 2021. He revealed that he had cheated 29 persons and collected Rs 80 lakh under the guise of providing employment with different government agencies. He admitted that he was extracting somewhere between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for offering placements. He disclosed that he had purchased two premium cars, a motorbike and two assets in Jagitial district centre and utilised remaining cash for luxuries.

Modus operandi

The B Tech student told investigating officials that though he could not crack the exam for the junior engineer’s post held by South Central Railway, he lied to his villagers that he secured the placement. As a result, the villagers felicitated him and Laxminarayan started using his newfound admiration for him among the villagers and exploited the unemployed youth. He claimed to have appeared for the Civil Services exam and was waiting for the results.

To win the trust of the villagers, he had appointed one Ramesh of Beerpur as his car driver for a salary of Rs 25,000 per month as well as another Mahender of Dandepalli mandal as his personal assistant. He also rented a flat in Mancherial town.

He managed to convince both Ramesh and Mahender by raising their salaries manifold and travelling in luxurious cars. He used the duo for luring their relatives and friends who were jobless and were willing to pay the bribe. He offered to mediate and get them jobs in different government departments.

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