The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has arrested two people who have allegedly cheated 70-75 struggling and aspiring actors by promising to get them roles in an ongoing popular Hindi teleserial and taking money from them in return.
The duo were arrested last week by the Unit IX of the Crime Branch. “The duo would contact those who were starting out in the entertainment industry and drop names of popular actors to convince their targets that they were well connected. They would then tell their targets that roles were available in Krishna Chali London , a popular serial on Star TV, and would ask for money from them in exchange for the roles,” a Crime Branch officer said.
The officer said based on the email IDs and contact numbers being used by the accused, one of them, Avinash Sharma, was arrested in Goregaon. His interrogation led the police to his accomplice, Vinod Solanki, who was also arrested.
“The accused would tell their targets that they were employed with an agency called Cinta Private Limited, and would also send them bogus contract letters via email to sell their lies. The duo would take anything between ₹30,000 and ₹40,000 from each of their targets, and payment would be accepted either through netbanking or ewallets,” the officer said.
According to inquiries so far, the accused have been running the scam for at least the last one year. “Although we have confirmed information about at least 75 aspiring or struggling actors being duped till date, the number is likely to rise in the days to come. We are conducting inquiries to find out whether there are any other people involved in the racket,” the officer said.
The duo have been charged with cheating under the Indian Penal Code. The police are currently scanning their cell phone records and bank account details to know more about the scope of their racket, officers said.
