Sari trader pursuing acting dream duped out of 1.71cr

Surat: A starry-eyed sari trader from the city who thought he was pursuing his dream of becoming an actor was allegedly duped out of Rs 1.71 crore by four persons from Delhi, who convinced him to send them large sums of money to secure high-profile acting work for him — in a web series, a TV serial and a music video. The victim had first contacted the accused on seeing an advertisement for portfolio photography on Instagram. Over two years, they got him to send them money on various pretexts and even called the victim to Delhi and Mumbai for shoots to fortify the deception. Nearly three years after his first contact with them, when they did not get him any acting work and he had paid them an eye-watering Rs 1.71 crore, he filed a complaint for cheating with Althan police. Rahul Rathod, 32, owns a sari trading firm in Surat. In Oct 2022, he saw an advertisement on Instagram for the Delhi-based ‘Dream Maker Studio', offering portfolio shooting. He provided his details and got a call from one Alka Thakur two days later, offering to shoot his portfolio and calling him to Delhi for the shoot. Rathod went to Dream Maker Studio where he met Alka Thakur Baroniya, Arman Khan alias Waqar Alam, Shiva Thakur alias Mohit and Vivek Rajput alias Rahul Roy. They carried out a photoshoot on Oct 17, 2022 and charged Rathod Rs 5,000 for it. The FIR states that days later Alka called Rathod again and told him they were launching a web series for which he had been selected. They demanded Rs 22,000 as ‘selection security' which Rathod paid. The next day, Alka told Rathod that as he was ‘a fresher' he would have to pay Rs 1 lakh more as ‘security', which he did. On another call days she said he was picked for a music video and got him to transfer Rs 8 lakh. Rathod sent the money over several transactions in Oct and Dec 2022. Alka later told Rathod they wanted to launch him on ‘a big platform through a reality show' and asked for Rs 15 lakh. Rathod transferred the money by RTGS and other modes. Rahul Roy later told Rathod that he would get a lead role in a serial on the Colors channel, which would pay him Rs 90,000 to Rs 95,000 per day for a year. Roy asked him to pay Rs 70 lakh for the lead role — ostensibly to cover his expenses in Mumbai for a year. Rathod transferred the money to Arman Khan and Shiva Thakur, as instructed by Roy and Alka Thakur. Another shoot was later conducted in Delhi. Roy told Rathod he should not tell the Colors channel officials that he was married. Days later, Roy called Rathod saying the channel officials had discovered Rathod was married and had fined Alka Rs 3 crore. Alka told Rathod that she would pay Rs 2.5 crore, but Rathod had to pay her the remaining Rs 50 lakh. Rathod sent the money in two transactions through the Surat angadia firm S Babulal. The accused promised the victim various roles beside actors and influencers such as Dipak Joshi, Akruti Agrawal and Sumbul Tokir, among others. Over two years, they took Rs 1.71 crore from Rathod. BOX Victim took all types of loans As the victim dreamed of becoming an actor, he fulfilled all the demands of the accused. After running out of money, he took loans, including personal loans, gold loans, business loans, and top-up loans. He paid the money to the accused by modes such as RTGS, UPI, cheques, angadia payments and in cash.

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