The fraudster cheated aspiring actors with the offer of this role; official of movie studio producing the film registered FIR after victims approached it
The temptation of landing a role with Prabhas proved too much for the victims to resist
The ingenuity of fraudsters knows no bounds. The Amboli police on Tuesday took into custody a 24-year-old youth, who had been cheating aspiring actors of thousands of rupees on the pretext of giving them the role of the younger brother of actor Prabhas, in the upcoming romantic flick Radhe Shyam. The accused had been arrested in another case.
The accused, under the alias Pritesh Jain, pretended to be a casting director for T-series. His offer proved too tempting to resist for many aspiring actors, whose numbers the police are trying to ascertain. The police also said the involvement of others in the fraud is being investigated.
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How he scripted plan
“We have arrested the accused Pritesh Jain, whose real name is Harshad Anand Sakpal. We took his custody from Nashik. He is a history sheeter and was arrested in another case. He had created a fake letterhead of T-series movie studio to lure struggling actors with the role of Prabhas’ brother in Radhe Shyam,” an officer from Amboli police station said.
“The accused had uploaded a fake advertisement on Instagram under the banner of T-series after which the aspiring actors started to contact him. He would ask for a copy of their passport and visa to particular countries, to ensure them that the shoot would take place abroad. In a bid to win the trust of aspiring actors, he would also ask for their COVID-19 status for the air journey in the pandemic,” he added.
“A number of aspiring actors contacted him. He then even sent them a QR code and asked them to send money for the audition. Once the money reached his account, he would block their mobile numbers,” the officer said.
The matter came into light after a number of victims started to go to the T-series’ office. “The liasoning officer of T-series, Joseph Leon, registered an FIR against an unknown person on January 18. During our investigation, we learnt that Sakpal was already in police custody. He is believed to have duped scores of people,” the officer said.
Doubly cheated
Another source at Amboli police station said, “The accused would take from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh from the aspiring actors. When one of the aspiring actors asked him if he had a role for his father, the accused even convinced him he had and duped him of double the amount.” Sakpal, booked under cheating and forgery, was produced before a court on Wednesday and has been sent in police remand for further probe.
Rs 1L
The upper limit of amounts conman took from his victims
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