Hyderabad, March 6 -- An ex-Ranji trophy cricketer was arrested by the Hyderabad police for allegedly duping corporate companies after posing as the personal secretary of state IT Minister K T Rama Rao (KTR). B. Nagaraju, the accused, collected an amount of Rs 39 lakh through his scam.

According to Anjani Kumar, commissioner of police, Hyderabad, Nagaraju accused allegedly targeted corporate companies, corporate hospitals, retailers and educational institutions after making phone calls to them introducing himself as Bandari Tirupati, KTR's personal secretary.

The accused allegedly told his victims that KTR will eventually be sworn-in as the chief minister, and that they needed funds to arrange hoardings and mass advertisements for the s...