Claiming to be PMO staff, conman tries to get Tirumala darshan tickets

In an incident that shocked the officials of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), a person attempted to get the coveted ‘Suprabhatham’ tickets at Tirumala Sri Venkateswara temple by claiming to be an official at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Identifying himself as Dr. P. Rama Rao from the PMO, he claimed to be a Deputy Secretary in the South Block, New Delhi, while addressing a letter to the then Executive Officer J. Syamala Rao on May 1, seeking ten Suprabhatham tickets and three air-conditioned rooms for stay at Tirumala on May 10.

Finding something amiss, the TTD authorities contacted the PMO, only to be told that no official with that name was ever associated with the high office.

Taking a serious note of the development, A.K. Sharma, Assistant Director at the PMO lodged a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking action against the ‘self-styled PMO official’.

The CBI in turn registered a case with FIR Number RC 0482025 S 0009 dated October 2 against Rama Rao under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3) and 340(2) of BNS for cheating, personation, and also under Section 66D of IT Act (cheating using a computer source), a copy of which is available with The Hindu.

Interestingly, TTD is not the first institution that Rama Rao had ever attempted to cheat. In the past, he was learnt to have identified himself as C. Sridhar, Joint Secretary to the PM to seek admission in a Pune-based university. Similarly, he had also duped the Mysuru Tahsildar while seeking access to some land-related documents.