Former Ranji cricketer Nagaraju Budumuru was on March 13 (Monday) arrested by the Mumbai cyber police for pretending to be Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and duping companies for around Rs 3 crore. According to the police, Budumuru cheated 60 companies in the last five years.
In December 2022, Budumuru pretended to be a close confidant of CM Reddy and cheated on an electronic store, asking them to sponsor Ricky Bhui, who is an upcoming cricketer from the state of Andhra Pradesh. Budumuru, who is 28 years old, introduced himself as the personal assistant of CM Reddy. The conman also provided forged documents to prove his identity and after receiving Rs 12 lakh, he ditched the company.
“After receiving the complaint, our team began tracking the money that was supposed to be given as sponsorship. The money trail pointed out to Budumuru. We nabbed him from his native place — Yavaripetta in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh earlier this week," Dr Balsing Rajput, DCP (cyber-crime) was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
The police have recovered approximately Rs 8 lakh from Budumuru, who played professional cricket between 2014 to 2018. He was also part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After his cricketing career went haywire in 2018, Budumuru switches to conning people and companies to sustain his lavish lifestyle.
“When he stopped doing well on the field after 2018, he started missing the luxurious lifestyle that he had become used to. That was his primary motive behind conning people under various pretexts,” official from the cyber police was quoted as saying in the report.
Budumuru, who is under custody at the moment, has confessed to his crimes.
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