A cheating case has been filed against popular Telugu TV anchor Kathi Karthika and a few others at the Banjara Hills police station in Hyderabad, Telangana for allegedly defrauding a realtor of Rs 1 crore. She is also the granddaughter of Telangana Assembly deputy speaker and former minister with the TRS cabinet T Padma Rao. She has been accused of collecting the sum after assurances of acquiring construction permits, including No Objection Certificates (NoCs) for the builder. 

Kathi Karthika shot to fame after her participation as a contestant on Bigg Boss Telugu season 1 in 2017, with the complaint against her being filed at a time when she is contesting as an independent candidate in the Dubbaka bypolls scheduled to take place on November 3. The complaint was lodged by Dora Swamy, managing director of Touchstone Property Developers, based at Film Nagar, who has alleged that he had deposited Rs 1 crore in a firm owned by Karthika and her associates named Karthika BRM Group. He has stated that he was introduced to Karthika by Sridhar Gopishetty, the managing director of Team One India Private Limited on the supposed grounds of settling a land dispute involving 52 acres at Ameenpur of Medak district. 

According to reports, Dora Swamy was planning to develop the 52 acres into a housing project in the hopes of expanding his business. He claimed that Rs 1 crore was taken from him after guarantees of obtaining the NoCs and construction permits with the help of Karthika and her contacts with the Telangana government. 

Cases have been registered by the Banjara Hills police under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), Section 420 (cheating), Section 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code against Karthika, Sridhar Gopishetty, Nyvvala Siva Ram Prasad, Thannery Bhimsen Rao, Lala Jagruth Lal, Andre Murali Krishna, Lala Mohan Santosh Lal and others.