Delhi Police nab Bollywood-inspired con couple in Rs 24 lakh fraud

Delhi Police has arrested a man and a woman inspired by the movie ‘Bunty aur Babli’ for allegedly duping aspiring actors by posing as TV serial producers and directors in southwest Delhi, an officer said on Saturday.

Tarun Shekhar Sharma, a 32-year-old resident of Lucknow, and Asha Singh alias Bhawna, 29, a resident of Delhi, are linked to more than 20 complaints of a similar kind across the country, DCP (southwest) Amit Goel said.

They lured their targets through social media platforms on the pretext of giving them roles in popular TV serials and OTT shows. In the latest case, the complainant was duped of Rs 24 lakh, the officer added.

The person came across the self-posing producers’ social media page, who were seeking newcomers for a TV show and contacted them, the DCP said.

The complainant was asked for money on different pretexts, such as processing and membership charges. She found herself “blocked” after she transferred about Rs 24 lakh, the DCP said.

Police followed the money trail and tracked the accused to a rented apartment in Bengaluru and arrested them, the officer said.

Seven mobile phones, 10 SIM cards, 15 bank cheque books and passbooks, eight ATM cards and a pair of gold earrings found in their possession were seized, he added.

On interrogation, it emerged that the accused operated from different cities, frequently changing their locations to evade detection. They stayed in luxury hotels and lived lavishly, police said.

“They opened around 15 bank accounts and used multiple SIM cards issued from different states. The fraudsters even trained themselves through online videos,” the officer said.

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The accused are also wanted in a case in Jammu and Kashmir and involved in several similar frauds in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the DCP said.