An official said that Mumbai police arrested two men on Monday for allegedly defrauding a 27-year-old actor by promising her a role in a Hollywood web series and then sending her for a “audition” to the UAE’s Sharjah city, where she was later arrested in an alleged drugs case. Sleuths from Mumbai’s Unit 10 crime branch apprehended the accused, Ravi Bobhate and Anthony Paul, who also cheated the actor’s mother, Pramila Pareira, by promising her large commissions in real estate deals in Hyderabad, he said. The incident was discovered when Pareira, 56, approached the crime branch with a complaint that her daughter, Krissan, had been cheated under the guise of providing her with a role in a Hollywood web series, according to the official. According to the complaint, accused Bobhate contacted Krissan while posing as a web series financer working on a project between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and offered her a role in Hindi web shows, movies, and plays. According to the official, the complainant discussed the offer with her daughter, and after meeting the accused person, the schedule for her overseas journey for a “audition” was finalised.
The actor was supposed to visit Dubai, but her plane tickets from Mumbai to Sharjah were booked for April 1 and she was supposed to return on April 3. Around the same time, Pareira travelled to Hyderabad with the second accused, Paul, to finalise a real estate transaction. According to the official, Pareira received a call while in Hyderabad informing her that Krissan had been caught with opium and cannabis at the Sharjah airport. The case was reported to the Indian embassy in the UAE, and information was also shared with Mumbai police. Accused Paul informed Pareira that he has contacts in Sharjah and requested Rs 80 lakh from her to assist her daughter. At this point, Pareira realised she and her daughter had been duped and filed a complaint with the crime branch. During investigation, it came to light that Paul and Bobhate together hatched a conspiracy to cheat the mother-daughter duo, said the official. A first information report (FIR) was filed and the accused were arrested from different locations in Mumbai, he said, adding further probe was on.
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