There is a sense of disbelief and denial as Afroz Malik speaks of his close friend and TikTok star Abhimanyu Gupta, who was arrested for burglary this week. The businessman, like Gupta's family, reiterates that his friend could not have been involved in a crime like this. "He is the kind of person who did not take a rupee from me. How would he steal?" Malik asks.

Kurla-resident Gupta, who boasts of 9 million followers on TikTok, was arrested by the Juhu police this week, for breaking into the house of an elderly couple in January last year and decamping with 342 gm gold worth R10.26 lakh, two watches, an LED TV and a smartphone. Pandarinath Wavhal, senior inspector of Juhu police station, said that he committed the crime to maintain the lifestyle that came with his new-found fame on social media. "He wanted to look like a star in those TikTok videos, but did not have enough money to purchase expensive clothes, shoes and goggles."