Film producers beaten, held hostage, robbed of Rs 24 lakh on pretext of financing movie

The trio reached the office to find seven men already present there. After a brief discussion, they discussed terms, provided address proof and were asked to sign an agreement.

Two film producers from Mumbai and their associate from Delhi were assaulted, held hostage and robbed of Rs. 24.5 lakh on the pretext of being offered Rs. 5 crore to produce a movie and a web series, the police said.

The police said the trio received a call from Palam Vihar police station on July 13, asking them to report. The trio, instead, approached the Badshahpur police along with proof of their transactions. (HT FILE)

Pravesh Kumar, a resident of Palam in Delhi, complained to the police that on July 12, they had attended a meeting in Sector 48, in which more than 10 persons were involved. He alleged they were held hostage and forced to transfer the money to their account.

Kumar said that he and his two friends — Ravinder Amer and Santosh Jain — were looking for financiers to invest in their projects. “Through a mediator, Amer and Jain got connected to Praveen Kumar, Arjun Gupta, Sher Singh and two others, who claimed to be financers. They reached Delhi on July 9 and asked them to meet them at a hotel in Sector 10 of Dwarka,” he said.

“Praveen agreed to facilitate the project but asked us for a local guarantor and a minimum bank guarantee of Rs. 50 lakh. I agreed to be the guarantor and a meeting was fixed for 4pm on July 12 at Hong Kong Mall in Sector 57. The trio met Sher Singh, who said we could discuss matters and complete the formalities at their office on Sohna Road. Three of them boarded our car,” said Singh.

The trio reached the office to find seven men already present there. After a brief discussion, they discussed terms, provided address proof and were asked to sign an agreement.

Singh asked a person to get a copy of the agreement to provide advance payment of the loan. However, in the meanwhile, Praveen, accompanied by a person in the uniform of Delhi Police approached them, took their phones and started thrashing them.

Jain and Amer were taken to another room and held hostage, the police said.

“The men asked us to write on a blank paper that we were carrying counterfeit currency and drugs in our car. They held us at gunpoint and forced us to transfer the amount to an account number provided by them. I transferred Rs. 16 lakh and Rs. 8.5 lakh from my account. Praveen introduced himself as an investigating officer of the Palam Vihar police station and another person, who introduced himself as a CBI official, took us in our car to the Palam police station,” said Kumar.

However, upon reaching the station, Praveen went inside and immediately returned, saying that the officer concerned is not available. He said they must visit the station at 11am the next day.

The police said the trio received a call from Palam Vihar police station on July 13, asking them to report. The trio, instead, approached the Badshahpur police along with proof of their transactions.

Mukesh Kumar Mann, station house officer of Badshahpur police station, said they have registered a case under sections 342, 385 and 120B of the IPC. “We are investigating who those people were involved in the case and how they received a call from the (Palam) police station. Also, we are trying to obtain CCTV footage of the area to identify the men in uniform,” he said.