The boy was apprehended on August 28. (Representational)
A juvenile boy, who allegedly created a fake Facebook account of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Rajya Sabha MP Joginipally Santosh Kumar and attempted to cheat people of their money, was on Friday arrested in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana police said.
According to an official release of Telangana police, the boy aged 17 hails from Gaon Mandaura Goverdhan, Brahmanan of Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district.
On August 25, police received a complaint from the victim stating that he got a Facebook friend request from Mr Joginipally and he accepted his friend request, through Facebook messenger.
"The boy observed the profile details of Mr Joginipally, through Facebook and hatched a plan by using his name and background to earn easy money from his followers. He created a fake profile of the MP using his photo and sent a friend request to a person (victim) here. Posing as the MP, the boy asked the man to make an online transfer of Rs 50,000 for meeting the medical expenses of his (MP's) friend's family, who is in Hospital ICU at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh," the release said.
According to the complaint, the juvenile boy used to chat in the Hindi language for asking money by giving Google pay numbers.
"Acting on the complaint, the police launched inquiry about the profile and learnt that he is not Santosh Kumar Joginipally and it is a fraud. During the course of the investigation, the boy was apprehended on August 28. The police seized the material evidence from him which was used in the commission of the offence," the release said.