Man arrested for sexually exploiting, duping teen aspiring model of ₹45L
27-year-old man arrested for duping an engineering student of ₹45 lakh & sexually exploiting her under the pretext of a career in modelling & TV.
MUMBAI: The Bhandup police arrested a 27-year-old man on Monday evening for allegedly duping a 19-year-old engineering student of ₹45 lakh and sexually exploiting her, promising her a career in modelling and TV.
The complainant was allegedly approached by one Hardik through social media in early April, when he flaunted his connections with a well-known production house in Bollywood. The Bhandup-based teen was also promised “a golden opportunity in modelling”. He claimed to represent a well-known modelling agency and having networks with various OTT platforms. Winning her trust, he passed on the cell phone number of one Rahul Chavan, who was to eventually entrap her.
Rahul asked her to pay ₹20,000 as registration fees for modelling and another ₹20,000 for her portfolio. On her request, her father transferred the money through G-Pay.
Later in the same month, Rahul called her to a hookah parlour in Bandra and demanded ₹1 lakh, required to land a modelling role. When she said her parents would not give her the money, he allegedly encouraged her to bring gold ornaments from her house. She picked up part of the family jewellery, without telling her parents, and handed it over to him. The complainant alleged that was not the end of his monetary demands, and she continued to give in, hoping for a plum modelling assignment.
She also alleged Rahul arrived at her house in her parents’ absence and sexually assaulted her; the demands of money and jewellery continued, said a police officer. The sexual assaults continued on several occasions on the pretext of photoshoots.
Thereafter, Hardik and another person called Shreyash Patel, both of whom she was communicating with on social media, threatened to share her pictures if she did not cough up more cash. By the end of the month, she had paid Rahul ₹45 lakh in jewellery and cash.
She was finally compelled to narrate the incident to her mother, after which the family approached Bhandup police station on Sunday. “We have recorded her statement and registered a case against the culprits. In the course of the investigation we managed to nab Rahul Chavan from Khar,” said senior inspector Datta Khandagle, of Bhandup police station. He added, it is likely that Rahul is the only culprit who had created the other IDs through which he chatted with the teen. “Investigation is on and all the facts will surface soon,” added Khandagle.