Hyderabad, Mar 28 (IANS): A city court on Thursday sent four persons, including a contract employee in former Health Minister T. Harish Rao’s office, to judicial custody for alleged misappropriation of Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) cheques.

On a complaint lodged by a farmer, the Jubilee Hills police registered a case and arrested Jogula Naresh Kumar, a contract data entry operator in Harish Rao’s office, along with Balagoni Venkatesh Goud, an attendee in the Telangana legislative assembly, Korlapati Vamshi, a car driver, and Omkar, a resident of Godavarikhani.

Another accused, a woman, is reportedly absconding.

P. Ravi Nayak, a farmer from Medak district, had complained that the accused siphoned off Rs 87,500 sanctioned to him under the CMRF.

The complainant had applied for financial help under CMRF after he incurred expenses of Rs 5 lakh for the treatment of his wife after a snake bite in 2022. The woman died during treatment.

The farmer said that he came to know about the sanctioning of Rs 87,500 under CMRF, but when he did not receive the amount, he grew suspicious about the role of Naresh Kumar.

According to the FIR, Naresh Kumar had given two cheques of Rs 50,000 and Rs 37,500 meant for Ravi Nayak to Vamshi and Venkatesh Goud in exchange for a commission. Omkar, posing as Ravi Nayak, helped the other accused and encashed the same.

The police are likely to seek the custody of the accused for further questioning to ascertain if they were involved in more such cases of misappropriation of funds.