Hyderabad: A 68-year-old doctor from the city was allegedly duped of Rs 8 crore by a fraudster who promised him six plots—each measuring 500 square yards—in Gachibowli, along with securing a high-profile position as a director in the National Medical Commission (NMC). Police said the accused, Chakka Surendra Kumar, posed as a Delhi-based bureaucrat working in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to lure the victim.Based on a complaint filed by the doctor, the Cyberabad Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered a case of cheating under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 336(3) (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 340(2) (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the BNS, and initiated an investigation.According to police, Kumar first met the victim in July 2021 through a common acquaintance, Ajay. In his complaint, the doctor, a resident of Kondapur, stated that Kumar was introduced to him as a senior bureaucrat from the PMO. “I was also told that his wife, Latha, is a prominent realtor operating across different states, with offices in Habsiguda and Nacharam,” the doctor told the police.Within a week of their first meeting, Kumar and his wife visited the doctor at his residence and offered to sell him six plots in Gachibowli, each valued at Rs 50 lakh. “To win the doctor’s confidence, the couple even showed him forged land allotment letters purportedly issued by revenue authorities,” a police officer said.Believing the offer to be genuine, the doctor transferred Rs 4.45 crore through a series of cheques between July 17 and Sept 19, 2021. Police said the payments were made to bank accounts held by Kumar and his associates. The accused also collected an additional Rs 1.55 crore from the victim towards regularisation and registration charges.Soon after, in the last week of July 2021, Kumar assured the doctor that he could secure his appointment as a director in the NMC, a statutory body under the ministry of health and family welfare that regulates medical education, professionals, institutions, and research. Kumar allegedly took another Rs 2 crore from the victim to facilitate the appointment and even sent him an email on July 30, 2021, containing fabricated information suggesting that he was being considered for the post, police said.The doctor said he “borrowed a significant amount” from relatives, friends, and even his son to make these payments.The victim grew suspicious when, despite several months passing, the NMC appointment did not materialise. Kumar also kept postponing the land registrations. In Dec 2021, the doctor visited Kumar’s offices in Habsiguda and Nacharam, only to find that they had been vacated.“I then gathered his addresses in Madanapalle, Guntur, Bengaluru, and Visakhapatnam with the help of well-wishers and confronted him. He blatantly refused to return the amount and even tried to run me over with a car through his associates in Nacharam. I somehow managed to escape,” the victim alleged.When repeated requests for a refund failed, the doctor approached the EOW police on March 23. “As per preliminary information, the main accused has a criminal record. The probe is at a nascent stage, and we are trying to locate the accused,” an EOW official said.
