Duo con tourists, take them to Aarey forest instead of film city

Mumbai: If any of your relatives or friends, visiting Mumbai, say they did not get to see any of the super stars, famous faces or big cinema sets but instead saw thick vegetation and forest-y areas during their tour of Film City, you can blame it on a cheating duo, who have been arrested for conning tourists

Mumbai: If any of your relatives or friends, visiting Mumbai, say they did not get to see any of the super stars, famous faces or big cinema sets but instead saw thick vegetation and forest-y areas during their tour of Film City, you can blame it on a cheating duo, who have been arrested for conning tourists.

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The Dindoshi police have arrested two people, who would allegedly intercept tourists coming to see the Film City studios in Goregaon, offer them a tour and instead take them around Aarey forest. The duo is alleged to have cheated at least three persons, including two foreign nationals, so far, and more such complaints are expected to come to light.

The accused, identified as Rohit Kasare (30) and Denzel Fernandes (37), are habitual offenders and have similarly conned scores of other tourists over the last few weeks. The police are now identifying and contacting their previous victims so that their statements, too, can be recorded, said police.

According to the police, they received three complaints against the two conmen on January 14 this year. The police said that one of the complainants, Farooq Rehman, is a businessman from Guwahati and had come to tour Mumbai.

“I reached Goregaon in the afternoon and was on the way to Film City when two men approached me as I was nearing the location. They offered to take me on a tour of the Film City for a sum of ₹1,500 and I agreed. At the same time, a foreigner couple was also passing by and the two men also intercepted them in the same manner,” Rehman has told the police.

Officers said that the duo’s style of working was akin to that of tourist guides, who seek clients on the street near popular destinations and hence, all the three tourists were taken in.

“The accused put them into autorickshaws and took them into the forest area in Aarey nearby. After a short trip around the forest, the duo brought them back to the Film City gate and declared the ‘tour’ to be over.

“Rehman asked where exactly the Film City was, as he had not seen any indications of a studio, like ongoing shoots or equipment. The two fraudsters said that the money he had paid could only get him this much, and he would have to pay more for a longer tour,” said an officer with the Dindoshi police station.

This sparked an argument between Rehman and the accused, who allegedly fled the scene when the former refused to back down. Rehman then asked around and made his way to the police station. At the same time the two foreigners — Bulgarians reached the station. The police recorded their statements and sent a team to Film City to conduct inquiries.

“We gathered inputs from local informants and also scanned Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera footages, which helped us identify and trace the accused to their residences in Goregaon. They were picked up and arrested on Monday,” the officer said.

He added that by their own admission, the accused, identified as Rohit Kasare (30) and Denzel Fernandes (37), are habitual offenders and have similarly conned scores of other tourists over the last few weeks. The police are now identifying and contacting their previous victims so that their statements, too, can be recorded.

Kasare and Fernandes have been charged with cheating under the Indian Penal Code and are currently in police custody.