BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao and eight others were booked on Tuesday by the Hyderabad police for cheating and forgery done in order to exhort Rs 2.17 crore from a realtor.

A criminal case was registered at Saroornagar police station based on a court-referred complaint from 41-year-oldT Pravarna Reddy, who is the wife of the duped realtor, Mahipal Reddy from Hyderabad, The Times of India reported.

Rao and others are accused of taking Rs 2.17 crore from the realtor on the false promise of securing him the post of Pharma Exil chairman.

The complainant further alleged Rao of producing an appointment letter with a forged signature of Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, used to make the realtor cough out the money. Police booked the nine accused under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) 420 (cheating), 468, 471 (forgery), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 156 (3) of CrPC.