Hyderabad, Mar 27 (TOI): BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao and eight others were booked on Tuesday for cheating and forgery, besides other offences, by the Hyderabad Police. A criminal case was registered at Saroornagar police station based on a court-referred complaint from T Pravarna Reddy, 41, wife of realtor Mahipal Reddy from Hyderabad.

Rao and others are accused of taking Rs 2.17 crore from the realtor by promising to secure for him Pharma Exil chairman’s post. The complainant also alleged that the accused made them pay the amount by showing an appointment letter with the forged signature of Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

When contacted by TOI, Rao refuted the charges saying that he had nothing to do with the issue. Police booked the nine accused under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) 420 (cheating), 468, 471 (forgery), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and section 156 (3) of CrPC.