‘Assistant director’ dupes TV actor of ₹5L, held in Kurar

THE ACCUSED MET THE COMPLAINANT IN MARCH AND TOLD HIM HE IS PLANNING TO MAKE A MOVIE NAMED RESPECTY AND NEEDED FINANCIAL HELP FOR THE SAME

MUMBAI: The DN Nagar police on Thursday arrested a 45-year-old man for allegedly cheating a 22-year-old TV artiste and running off with ₹5 lakh that belonged to him.

Police said that complainant Yogesh Lakhwan hails from Sonepat in Haryana and regularly travels to Mumbai for work. They said Lakhwan was contacted by the accused, Sanjay Surve, on Facebook in September 2017.

“Surve told the complainant that he was working as an assistant director for a movie. In March 2018, he met Lakhwan in Malad and told him he is planning to make a movie named Respect-y and needed financial help for the same,” said a police officer.

Last month, the complainant spoke to his uncle, Sachin Kumar Kataria, and asked him to invest ₹5 lakh for producing the film. On October 28, the complainant and his uncle left Haryana and reached Mumbai the next day. He then called Surve and planned to meet him at a hotel in Andheri (West).

“During the meeting, they placed a bag full of cash and documents on the table. While Surve was having a discussion with Lakhwan’s uncle, he suddenly got up, grabbed the cash bag and fled,” the officer said.

Senior police inspector, Parameshwar Ganame, and his team traced Surve to Kurar and arrested him.

They managed to recover the money and all the documents that were robbed.