Prominent film producer, studio owner and distributor Daggubati Suresh Babu was duped by a conman who had promised to provide the latter with Covid-19 vaccines.
The accused, who has been identified as Nagarjuna Reddy, had called up Suresh Babu and urged him to transfer Rs 1 lakh to him to procure vaccines for 500 people. Following this, the producer unsuspectingly transferred the money into the account of T Laxmi, Reddy's wife, believing the words of the caller.
The studio owner had wanted to get the vaccines for the employees working at his production house.
After the payment was made, however, the accused switched off his phone. Neither did he deliver the promised vaccines.
When repeated attempted to contact the fraudulent seller failed, Suresh Babu realised that he had been cheated. His assistant then lodged a complaint with Jubilee Hills police yesterday, June 21.
The police are currently trying to apprehend the suspect, who had been arrested by the Cyberabad police just four days back for duping people by claiming to IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao's personal assistant.
Such rackets and instances go back marketing of essential Covid-19 treatment supplies has shot up in Telangana recently. Only last week, the Hyderabad police had
arrested two gangs involved in the black-marketing of injections meant for the treatment of the deadly black fungus.