Telangana Secretariat ASO killed stranger to fake own death

MEDAK : Medak SP Rohini Priyadarshini on Wednesday revealed to the media the shocking details of the elaborate plot hatched by Maloth Dharma, an assistant section officer (ASO) in the State Secretariat, to claim Rs 7.4 crore insurance premium, by faking his own death on January 9 in a burnt car at Venkatapur village of Tekmal mandal in Medak district. An unsuspecting man identified as Babu was killed by Dharma and his nephew Tejawat Srinivas, to create the impression that Dharma was the one who died in the accident.

The police who unravelled the mystery within a week, arrested Dharma, who hails from Bhimla thanda under Venkatapur village panchayat, his wife Maloth Neela, his 17-year-old son, his sister Tejawat Sunanda and her son Srinivas.  

According to the SP, Dharma ran into huge debts in his quest to make quick money and, to repay loans, he came up with the plan to claim insurance money with the help of his family members. He started investing money in shares in 2018 by borrowing from money lenders. Though he made profits initially, after the Covid-19 pandemic, he incurred losses and ended up with a debt of Rs 84 lakh.   

Speaking to media persons here, Rohini Priyadarshini said that Dharma had discussed his plot with his family members before executing it. He bought different insurance policies for a total coverage of `7.4 crore since November 2022. As part of the conspiracy, Dharma along with his nephew Srinivas started scouting for somebody who looked like him. They first picked up a man, named Anjaiah from a labour adda at the Nampally railway station in Hyderabad by convincing him that they had some work for him. They took him to Nizamabad where Anjaiah consumed alcohol.

Thinking that he was not suitable for the purpose, they dropped Anjaiah and picked up Babu at the Nizamabad railway station. They duo somehow convinced the unsuspecting man to accompany them to Basara where he was made to tonsure his head at the temple probably to complete the resemblance to Dharma who is bald.

Dharma and his nephew took the man in a car to Venkatapur on January 9. There Babu grew suspicious when he was asked to stand before the car. Here the story took a gruesome twist when Dharma and Srinivas fearing their plot falling apart, struck on Babu’s head with an axe and killed him. Later, they placed the body in the driver’s seat of the car and set it afire using petrol. Both the car and the body were burnt.

What raised the suspicion of the police investigating the case was partially burnt legs of the body in the car. They realised that the legs were too rough for a man doing a white-collar job and started looking deep into the case. They kept a watch on the movements of Dharma and his family members, according to the SP.       

She said the case details and that of Dharma were sent to all the police stations and, after examining the CCTV footage, he was found to be in Nizamabad. Sensing that the police were conducting an in-depth investigation, he decided to meet his family members and came to Medak. The SP said that after getting a tip-off that Dharma was coming to Medak, he was arrested. Rohini Priyadarshini congratulated the special police team who worked hard to unravel the complex plot.