Mumbai-based ‘assistant director’ held for duping TV actor of ₹5 lakh on pretext of making movie

Police said the accused Sanjay Surve and the victim Yogesh Lakhwan met in Mumbai in March this year when the former asked Lakhwan for financial help to produce a movie.

Mumbai’s DN Nagar police on Thursday arrested a 45-year-old man for allegedly cheating a 22-year-old TV artiste named Yogesh Lakhwan.

Police traced the accused SanjaySurve, who duped a TV actor of ₹5 lakh, to Kurar in Mumbai and arrested him. They managed to recover the money and all the documents that were robbed. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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

“Surve told the complainant that he worked as an assistant director for the movie Satya 2. 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 maternal uncle, Sachin Kumar Kataria and asked him to invest ₹5 lakh for producing the film. On October 28, the complainant and his uncle left from 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 stood, grabbed the cash bag and fled,” the officer said.