A huge scam has been discovered in Andhra Pradesh involving the son-in-law of a former DGP. He has been accused of being involved in a scam worth Rs 36.55 crore through traffic e-challan payment gateway services. The police started an internal investigation after noticing discrepancies in the collection of traffic fines in Tirupati.
Here’s how the scam worked: Traffic fines in Andhra Pradesh are collected through e-challans, which are then deposited into the DGP’s account using four payment gateways. One of these gateways, Razor Pay, belongs to Data Evolve, a company owned by the son-in-law of former DGP Sambasiva Rao, named Kommireddy Avinash. Instead of depositing the money directly into the DGP’s account, the funds were transferred into Avinash’s account using a cloned app called Razer Pay. In total, Rs 36.55 crore was transferred into Avinash’s accounts.
It was discovered that on June 27, 2017, the then DGP Sambasiva Rao appointed Data Evolve as the e-challan service provider. They acquired the contract by quoting just Re 1 and managed to accumulate Rs 36.65 crore out of the Rs 100 crore collected through fines in the last five years.
The scam was uncovered when Tirupati Traffic DSP Narsappa noticed discrepancies in the amount collected between May 1 and May 20. He reported this to higher authorities after investigating the daily collections from his unit. An internal inquiry was conducted, leading to the discovery of this massive scam. Kothapalli Rajasekhar of Data Evolve was produced in court, while Kommireddy Avinash, the main accused, is currently on the run.
The police have also found that Avinash’s sister Akshitha and Ravi Kiran, who are directors of the same company, were involved in the case. They are working to arrest the remaining accused and are investigating the transfer of money into different accounts using the cloned app.
In the meantime, the Guntur Range DIG has requested the registration department to stop any sale or purchase of assets belonging to Avinash and his company Data Evolve.
