Crime of the millennium and how Naidu fell for it

This is the first cyber crime in Andhra Pradesh," is how Vijayawada Police Commissioner Sudeep Lakhtakia describes what has been accepted in this small coastal town as the ''crime of the millennium.'' And this must cause a bit of embarrassment to Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the computer savvy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, for he is among several influential people in the state hoodwinked by the perpetrator of this crime -- Kola Venkata Krishna Mohan.

Kola Mohan, and this has become AP's favourite story, was able to convince several gullible money lenders, top banks and the state's ruling Telugu Desam party that he had won the Euro Lottery and that he was awaiting to complete a few formalities before the millions were transferred to his account in India.

He set the ball rolling in November 1998, just a few months after he actually picked up an Euro Lottery ticket in London, when a prominent Telugu daily received an e-mail (sent by Kola Mohan himself) saying that a Telugu man had won the multi-million dollar Euro lottery but no one had taken notice of this great achievement. The newspaper promptly contacted Kola Mohan who expressed his reluctance to talk for ''fear of being targeted by the underworld for extortion.''

The newspaper promptly published a report and followed it up with an interview without making any attempt to contact any Euro Lottery representative. Other newspapers soon picked up the story and Kola Mohan became a celebrity overnight.

Now it was time to put into motion the second part of his plan. He began calling up money lenders seeking short-term loans which of course he would pay back as soon his ''money arrived from London where it was deposited in a bank.''

He also accepted interest rates higher than those prevailing in the market even as he spread the word around that he was awaiting tax concessions from the government before he got his money transferred to India.

Simultaneously, he embarked upon an image-building exercise by buying expensive cars and acquiring a Rs 4 million house in an upmarket area in Vijaywada.

On May 19, 1999 he joined the TDP in Naidu's presence and he announced his arrival in politics with a Rs 1 million donation to the NTR Memorial Trust. Sources in the party said he also applied for a ticket for the general election, but his request was denied on the ground that he was inexperienced. Had he been given the ticket, there would have been many red faces in the party today.

Kola Mohan's dream run continued till creditors began putting pressure on him. He would tell them his money was deposited in a London bank and that it was a matter of time before it was transferred to India.

However, as time passed the creditors's patience began wearing thin. By October 1999, the word was out that his claims about his Euro Lottery win were fake. The whispers grew only louder when a few cheques issued by him bounced.

But Kola Mohan was not going to give up so easily. He showed his creditors some documents issued by the Midland Bank, Sheffield, UK, where he claimed he had made some investments that were due to mature on November 17, 1999.

On November 4 he left Vijaywada saying he was going to London to collect his money. He also filed a writ petition in the Andhra Pradesh high court seeking directions to the Vijayawada police to provide protection to his family.

In the meantime, one of his creditors, Kolli Gandhi, had lodged a complaint at the Patamata police station in Vijayawada stating that a cheque for Rs 1.45 million issued by Kola Mohan had bounced. A case of cheating (section 420 of the Indian Penal Code) was registered against Kola Mohan.

Around the same time, a Andhra Bank cheque of Rs 1.73 million issued by Kola Mohan also bounced. Kola Mohan had pledged with the bank the copy of a bond certificate purportedly issued by Midland Bank Trust Company Limited, London stating that a term deposit of 12.5 million pounds was held in his name.

The Andhra Bank authorities tried to verify the authenticity of the certificate with the Midland Bank and learnt that the bond certificate was fake. On November 25, the Andhra Bank, Eluru Road branch, lodged a complaint with the Governorpet police station against Kola Mohan for "cheating and forgery."

The news by now had reached Hyderabad and a deeply disturbed Chandrababu Naidu directed the Criminal Investigation Department of the state police to look into the matter.

The state police swung into action and asked all domestic airports, international airports and immigration officers in the country to be on the look-out for Kola Mohan. Interpol was alerted too. The state government on its part declared a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for any information on him.

Kola Mohan obviously was abreast of the developments. He went to Hyderabad from Vijayawada and from there to Shirdi and Pune. He flew to Delhi and from then took a connecting flight to Chennai.

But he was now getting tired of all the running around. And for once in the last two years he was also short on cash.

He was arrested in the early hours of November 29 by a special police party as soon as he arrived at his home to meet his wife and children.

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