New Delhi [India], August 23 (ANI): Delhi Police has busted a nexus of fake producers and directors in the television industry and arrested two fraudsters, inspired by the movie Bunty Aur Babli, for duping victims on the pretext of offering breaks in TV serials and OTT platforms airing on Star Plus and Hot Star.

The accused, identified as Tarun Shekhar Sharma, a resident of Lucknow and Asha Singh alias Bhawna, a resident of Delhi's Nangloi, were arrested from Bengaluru, Karnataka, following a raid. With their arrest, 7 smartphones, 10 SIM cards, 8 ATM cards, 15 bank Chequebooks and Passbooks used for the commission of a crime were recovered from their possession.

According to police, a complaint was lodged on the NCRP portal by a resident of Raghu Nagar, Dabri, Delhi, alleging that her minor daughter, a student of acting and modelling, was duped of nearly Rs 24 lakh on the pretext of securing a role in serials on Star Plus and Hotstar.

As per the police, the complainant's minor daughter, a diploma student in acting and modelling from Ekta Kapoor's academy, surfed the internet for any opportunity to work in any serial and came across a Facebook page seeking new comers for a famous serial on Star Plus. She clicked the same link, and she was redirected to a WhatsApp number, which was introduced as Piyush Sharma, a former MTV Splitsvilla participant and now a director. He asked for her portfolio, gave her the number of famous director/producers Rajan Shahi and asked her to contact him through his reference. The Rajan Shahi again obtained her portfolio and asked her to contact the HR Director of Cintaa, Anita. Thereafter, she was promised a role and was asked to pay huge amounts on one pretext or another. The victim transferred approximately Rs 24 lacs. Thereafter, she was blocked.

Using technical surveillance, digital footprints, and analysis of money trail, it was revealed that the suspects used only WhatsApp for communication with the victims, conducted frauds from hotel rooms in Lucknow, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. Accused used to change their locations very frequently.

After sustained analysis, a raid was conducted in Bengaluru, Karnataka, resulting in the arrest of two accused Tarun Shekhar Sharma and Asha Singh alias Bhawna, who were staying in a service apartment.

On interrogation, it was revealed that the accused Tarun and Asha got themselves trained through YouTube videos, and they used to contact the victim from different WhatsApp handles and kept on changing the mobile numbers, bank accounts and cities for the offence, so as to dupe the law enforcement agencies. They used to stay in premium hotels such as The Lalit, Crowne Plaza, Welcome Hotel, etc. across the country. Accused persons were living a lavish life. They did open approximately 15 bank accounts and used more than 10 SIM cards for the fraud. The mobile SIM cards issued have different addresses across different states.

The accused were found involved in four other cases, i.e. two cases of Uttar Pradesh, one previous case of Delhi and still wanted in one similar case of Jammu and Kashmir. 20 NCRP complaints were found linked across the nation.

Further investigation of the case is in progress. (ANI)