Hyderabad, Jun 22 (IANS): Leading Telugu filmmaker D. Suresh Babu has been cheated by a man, who collected Rs 1 lakh from him for promising to arrange Covid-19 vaccination for employees of his production house.

The producer, who is actor Rana's father, through his aide, registered a complaint in Jubilee Hills police station on Monday against one Nagarjuna Reddy, who has already been arrested by the police for duping a television channel.

The man called up the producer and offered to arrange 500 Covid vaccine doses for people working in his Suresh Productions. The accused asked Suresh Babu to transfer Rs 1 lakh to bank account of his wife. After withdrawing the amount, Nagarjuna Reddy switched off his mobile phone.

After realizing that he has been cheated, he lodged a complaint with the police through his aide.

Hyderabad Cybercrime police had arrested Nagarjuna Reddy on June 14 on charges of cheating a TV channel in the guise of providing vaccination to its employees at a cheaper rate.

Reddy called the entertainment TV channel and identified himself as a personal assistant of Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao and offered to arrange Covid-19 vaccines for its staff members at Rs 100 per dose.

The channel paid Rs 1.5 lakh for the vaccination drive for 1,500 employees. However, after receiving the money, Reddy stopped responding to the calls.

The Cybercrime police booked a case on a complaint from the channel management and arrested him. He was remanded to judicial custody.