Hyderabad, Sep 19 : Hyderabad police have arrested seven more persons for misappropriation of Rs 8.71 lakh from the Telangana Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF).

According to police, the accused were fake beneficiaries who posed as genuine and defrauded the government, as well as genuine beneficiaries who were entitled to the relief.

The accused fraudulently caused the sanctioned CMRF cheques to be deposited into their personal accounts and subsequently withdrew the funds. They also misappropriated the amount.

Jubilee Hills Police Station SHO K. Venkateshwara Reddy said on Friday that all seven accused, including two women, are natives of Godavarikhani in Pedapally district.

The accused are Potla Ravi, 46, Janagama Nagaraju, 40, Mateti Bhasker, 33, Dharmaram Raju, 50, Kampalli Santhosh, 35, Chityala Laxmi, 65, and Asampelli Laxmi. They were all arrested on Thursday and produced before the court for judicial remand.

The arrests were made in connection with five cases booked since last year. The accused were booked under sections 409, 417, 419, 467, and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66(C) of the Information Technology Act.

According to police, the arrested individuals voluntarily admitted and confessed to their involvement in the commission of the above offences.

The SHO said that other accused persons have been identified but are currently absconding. The police are also making efforts to recover the misappropriated funds.

In July, the police arrested four accused in the same case. Jogula Naresh Kumar, 42, Balagoni Venkatesh, 37, Korlapati Vamshi, 24, and Pulipaka Omkar, 34, had criminally conspired and misappropriated funds sanctioned under the CMRF.

The police officer said that after the 2023 Assembly elections and the defeat of the BRS government, Naresh Kumar, who was working in the office of one of the then ministers, took possession of 230 sanctioned but undistributed cheques.

Nineteen of those cheques, issued to applicants who had not followed up, were allegedly deposited in forged bank accounts with similar names at the SBI branch on Road No. 5 in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.

The main accused identified 19 cheques issued to applicants who had not followed up, and deposited them into bank accounts at theSBI's Jubilee Hills branch with similar names, using forged details.

/IANS