Andhra Ranji cricketer jailed for impersonating MSK Prasad and duping people

What's the story?

The Vijayawada Police arrested a Ranji Trophy cricketer from Andhra Pradesh named Budumuru Nagaraju on Thursday after he impersonated chief selector MSK Prasad's voice on phone calls and duped people.

According to TheNewsMinute, Nagaraju had taken money from people and promised to build a cricket academy in Visakhapatnam but he never fulfilled his promise.

The background

As per ACP Central Y Ankineedu Prasad, Nagaraju had achieved a lot of success in his domestic career hence, he received sponsorships from many firms. This got him used to a lavish lifestyle. However, he wanted to earn easy money in 2018 and thus, he resorted to unethical means of grabbing money. Nagaraju had earlier been held twice for duping people.

The heart of the matter

The officer informed that Nagaraju started observing Prasad closely in a few prize distribution sessions and gradually he learnt to mimic Prasad's voice as well. He even changed his profile name to MSK Prasad on Truecaller app.

The Andhra Pradesh cricketer then duped a person called N Gopal after claiming that he would establish a "Dhoni Cricket Academy" in Visakhapatnam.

He even collected ₹2.88 lakh from a man saying that he represented Kolkata Knight Riders. Next, he took ₹3.88 lakh from Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited using MSK Prasad's name.

Thus, Nagaraju had deceived many people by portraying himself as Prasad. However, his impersonation came to an end when he was put behind the bars by the Vijayawada Police. He was arrested near the Gannavaram Airport in Vijayawada.

What's next?

Nagaraju had once tried to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for "the longest individual cricket net session (male)" in 2016 and to see a hard-working player like him resort to unethical tactics just to earn money will truly go down as one of the shameful actions in cricket fraternity.