Hyderabad, Sep 21 : Hyderabad police on Sunday arrested two more accused in connection with a criminal conspiracy involving the misappropriation of Rs 8.71 lakh from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF).

The Jubilee Hills Police apprehended Pagadala Srinivasa Rao, 23, and Yasa Venkateshwarulu, 50, both fake beneficiaries.

With this, the number of arrests in the CMRF case has gone up to 13.

According to police, the accused fraudulently caused the sanctioned CMRF cheques to be deposited into their personal accounts and subsequently withdrew the funds. In furtherance of a criminal conspiracy, they misappropriated the amount sanctioned under the CMRF for their wrongful gain, thereby cheating the government and depriving genuine victims/beneficiaries.

Police said the arrested individuals voluntarily admitted and confessed to their involvement in the commission of the offences. The accused, who are from Khammam district, were produced before a court for judicial remand.

On September 19, police arrested seven fake beneficiaries who posed as genuine and defrauded the government, as well as genuine beneficiaries who were entitled to the relief.

The accused fraudulently caused the sanctioned CMRF cheques to be deposited into their personal accounts and subsequently withdrew the funds. They also misappropriated the amount.

According to K. Venkateshwara Reddy, Station House Officer, Jubilee Hills Police Station, all seven accused, including two women, are natives of Godavarikhani in Pedapally district.

The arrests were made in connection with five cases booked since last year. The accused were booked under sections 409, 417, 419, 467, and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66(C) of the Information Technology Act.

In July, the police arrested four accused in the same case. Jogula Naresh Kumar, 42, Balagoni Venkatesh, 37, Korlapati Vamshi, 24, and Pulipaka Omkar, 34, had criminally conspired and misappropriated funds sanctioned under the CMRF.

The police officer said that after the 2023 Assembly elections and the defeat of the BRS government, Naresh Kumar, who was working in the office of one of the then ministers, took possession of 230 sanctioned but undistributed cheques.

Nineteen of those cheques, issued to applicants who had not followed up, were allegedly deposited in forged bank accounts with similar names at the SBI branch on Road No. 5 in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.

The main accused identified 19 cheques issued to applicants who had not followed up, and deposited them into bank accounts at the SBI's Jubilee Hills branch with similar names, using forged details.

/IANS