In a significant breakthrough, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Hyberabad arrested two individuals for defrauding a Madhapur resident of Rs 3.25 crore by falsely promising admission to Stanford University, California, USA, for his son.
The accused have been identified as Paladugu Raghuram and Paladugu Sunitha, both from Madhapur. The police acted on a complaint lodged by Chatla Sanjeev Kumar, the victim, who was allegedly misled into believing that his son would be granted undergraduate admission at the prestigious Stanford University.
According to the police statement released on Saturday, Paladugu Raghuram, who has a prior history of cheating cases at Kukatpally Police Station under Sections 420, 465, 467, and 468 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sunitha, used a fabricated narrative to execute their scheme. They introduced a fake individual named Sumanth, who they claimed was a White House employee, purportedly assisting in the admission process.
To further their deception, the accused created fraudulent Stanford University admission documents and posed as if they had direct access to the university’s admission process. They also used a different SIM card to simulate WhatsApp communications with “Sumanth,” thereby establishing false credibility.
In one of the key aspects of their fraud, the couple claimed that Raghuram had traveled to the USA to meet with Sumanth. However, the reality was that Raghuram and Sunitha had actually traveled to Mysore, where they continued their fraudulent activities by conducting WhatsApp conversations while pretending to be in the USA.
The police have now arrested the two accused, and further investigation is underway. The EOW is working to uncover the full extent of the scam and any other potential victims.