Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; May 13, 2015)

Producer Vipul A Shah recently went into a tizzy when he found out about a fraudster impersonating him to audition aspiring actresses. He lodged a complaint with the Amboli police station last week to track down the imposter, but alleges no action has been taken so far.

“My office received a few calls from aspirants asking for audition details and we told them that we were not casting for any film or TV serial. My supervising producer informed me that a girl named Annie has been calling aspirants for an audition claiming to be my secretary secretary and making them talk to a person who posed as Vipul Shah,” says the producer.

An official of the Amboli police station says that action has not been initiated as no FIR was registered. However, a member of Vipul’s legal team contests that, saying: “Usually, a person narrates the incident to the police, who need to advise if an FIR is needed or not. But they didn’t suggest any such thing. In our complaint, we clearly requested them to investigate the matter and take action.”

Vipul is now considering meeting police commissioner Rakesh Maria to speed up the process of nabbing the culprit. “I hope nothing wrong happens to any of the girls as the conman is still making calls to aspirants. It’s a question of their life and my reputation as well,” he adds.