The Hyderabad police on Tuesday said that officials had arrested an “habitual offender” for allegedly impersonating Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's personal assistant and duping several people to the tune of Rs 3 crore. Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said that the accused A Sudhakar, was arrested in a joint operation carried out by North Zone Team along with SR Nagar police.

The accused had duped his victims, numbering between 80 to 100, with assurances of government housing allotments, police department jobs and gold at cheaper rates, authorities said.

“Posing as an employee in the CM's office, Sudhakar created fake IDs of PA to CM and OSD. The accused engaged two persons, S Nagaraju and B Bheemaiah, to dress in safari suits and carry fake guns to give the impression of his official security guards, and travelled in a Fortuner car,” the Police Commissioner said.

The accused, a resident of Kapra in Medchal district, even carried a toy gun claiming it to be issued by the government, to cheat the public and convince them that he was a government official.

Sudhakar is a Class V dropout and worked for some time as a driver at the secretariat. While working in the Tourism and Tribal Welfare departments, he observed the activities in the secretariat and devised his plan to fleece people, police said.

According to the police, eight cases have been registered against Sudhakar in seven police stations across the city. Properties worth Rs 2.2 crore, including Rs 1.03 crore in cash, a car, fake ID cards, 14 cellphones, and house documents were seized from the trio.

The accused persons had fake voter identity cards, fake Secretariat entry cards, fake police identity cards and fake PA to CM OSD cards. “In this light, I want to warn all rubber stamp shop owners and seal manufacturers of strict action, if they create rubber stamps without proper authorisation,” Anjani Kumari cautioned.