Pune police have apprehended a 34-year-old electronics engineer from Telangana, identified as Seetaiah Kilaru, for allegedly defrauding a private university in Pune of Rs 2.46 crore through an online scam. The arrest was made on September 21, following a complaint lodged by the university in early September, reported PTI.

The scam, which occurred between July 25 and August 26, involved Kilaru posing as a professor from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB). He deceived university officials by promising to secure a project from IITB, leading them to transfer Rs 2.46 crore into various accounts, according to a police release issued on Wednesday.

Kilaru, a resident of Yapral in Hyderabad, holds a PhD from a UK-based university and is an electronics and telecommunication engineer. A police official revealed, “He is a mastermind in the case and was arrested on September 21. The accused is an electronics & telecommunication engineer from Telangana and holds a PhD from a UK-based university. During the investigation, he told us that he had cleared UPSC's prelim and mains examination in 2019-20.”

Following his arrest, Kilaru was presented before a court, which remanded him to police custody until September 28 to facilitate further investigation into the cybercrime.