The Andhra Pradesh CID police have arrested five individuals on charges of stealing digital signatures from the Chief Minister’s office. The complaint was filed by officials from the Chief Minister’s office on August 11. The accused include Kanamarla Srinu, Guttula Sitaramaiah, Nalajala Sairam, Bhukya Chaitanya Nayak, and Abdul Razak.
According to CID Vishnuvardhana Raju, the Superintendent of Police, the accused used their knowledge of the e-office system to steal the usernames and passwords of the secretaries. They would then use these stolen digital signatures to prepare petitions on behalf of the Chief Minister and forward them to the relevant departments for action.
Kanamarla Srinu, the first accused, was responsible for stealing the usernames without the knowledge of the secretaries. The other four accused worked together as a team to forward the petitions using the stolen digital signatures, charging money from applicants in exchange for their services.
When doubts were raised about a petition sent by Kanamarla Srinu to Secretary Dhanunjaya Reddy, he was removed from his position. However, the rest of the team continued their operations. In total, 66 fake petitions were identified by officials from the Chief Minister’s office.
The CID conducted an investigation and discovered that the accused were charging between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000 to process each file using the stolen digital signatures. All five accused have been taken into custody and will be sent to remand.
