Realtor arrested for forging Home Minister’s letterhead to avail VIP passes for Tirumala darshan

The Tumakuru town police on Saturday arrested a 30-year-old realtor who forged the letterhead of Home Minister G. Parameshwara to avail VIP passes for darshan at Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh. The realtor was selling the VIP passes to customers for a price ranging from ₹6,000 to ₹10,000 per pass.

Maruthi Hanumantharayappa, resident of Yelahanka New Town, also misused the Home Minister’s picture on his messaging apps to make calls to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office to seek privileges under VIP quota and even threatened the staff of getting them suspended if they failed to comply. According to the police, the accused was running the racket for sometime until the Home Minister’s office was alerted to it.

The Home Minister’s staff called Maruthi to cross-check his identity. They were abused by Maruthi, who also threatened to defame the Home Minister by making false allegations and demanded ₹2 lakh from the staff.

The police also recovered a computer and printer which the accused used to forge the Home Minister’s letterhead.

The accused has been booked for cheating, forgery, impersonation, and extortion.

Published - December 16, 2024 07:21 pm IST