Hyderabad, Nov. 26 -- A 39-year-old man was arrested in Hyderabad on Tuesday, November 25, for cheating to the tune of Rs 10.5 lakh under the pretext of buying an industrial land.

Bathini Shashikanth approached the complainant, Ali Hassan, as a government officer, and alleged that he could help him secure an industrial land.

Believing him, Hassan paid Rs 10,50,665 to Shashikanth. Hassan realised he was duped after the latter went unreachable.

Police said that Shashikanth would often impersonate as an IAS or IPS officer and extort money from victims. He created fake ID cards, put sirens on private vehicles, used walkie-talkies for communication and circulated a fake Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) industria...