Andhra Pradesh: ‘Relative has taken loan, make payment’, fraudsters made 79 calls to the minister, 4 arrested
A minister and a former minister hailing from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh received several calls from the loan recovery agency on Friday, demanding that they repay the money taken by some unknown person. Based on the minister’s complaint, Nellore police arrested 4 people for blackmailing and harassing them.
An audio clip related to this incident is going viral on WhatsApp, in which a caller posing as a private bank employee is saying that MLA and former minister P Anil Kumar from Nellore city was taken from Ashok Kumar. 8 lakh to be returned. The woman who called said, “Are you P Anil Kumar? Ashok Kumar gave your number saying that you are his relative. He owes Rs 8 lakh on bank loan. So you pay us the money immediately.”
Anil Kumar, who was Minister of Water Resources in the Jagan Mohan Reddy cabinet till April, tried to explain that none of his relatives had taken the loan, but the woman who called insisted that his name was given. Anil Kumar tried to convince the woman for several minutes that he was not connected with Lone in any way and also said that he is an MLA. Along with Anil Kumar, Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy also received similar calls.
Agriculture minister also got fake calls
The agriculture minister said, “I was at an official event. So my personal assistant answered the call. He was told about the loan, but my PA told the caller that he never knew the person who did. Had taken loan. Still the person kept on calling using different numbers.” In all, the minister received 79 calls from so-called loan recovery agents on Friday.
Interestingly, in this case the name of the borrower is also being told as Ashok Kumar. Frustrated, he complained about the matter to the District Superintendent of Police. SP C Vijaya Rao started investigation regarding this and came to know about an agency in Chennai. The SP told the news agency that there were calls from a loan recovery agency named Coleman from Chennai.
4 people arrested from Chennai
The SP said, “We immediately sent a team and arrested four people from the agency. They were using different SIM cards and repeatedly calling key persons. Perhaps as a blackmail strategy to recover loans. in the form of.” He said that the matter is being thoroughly investigated while the accused have been sent to judicial custody.
