Mumbai: The police have arrested a member of a con gang who they said had cheated several Bollywood personalities of lakhs by promising to upload their movies on OTT platforms and taking large sums from them by showing them fake letters of service providers. Actor Vivek Oberoi and producer Gaurang Doshi are among those cheated by the gang, said the police.

The cyber crime cell of the north region on Thursday arrested Rajat Kumar Mourya (29) from his residence in Jogeshwari. The police said more people were now likely to come up with complaints.

The complainant in the case is film producer Maan Singh, who was producing movies and wanted to release these on an OTT platform to cater to the increased online demand after Coronavirus struck. Singh met Mourya through a common friend, Karansingh Chouhan, who said that Mourya had good contacts with officials of OTT platforms. Mourya said he could release Singh’s upcoming movies on OTT platforms, for which he would have to give him Rs 10 lakhs per movie.

Mourya showed various certificates purportedly from OTT platforms for past releases that he had facilitated. Singh decided to give him the contract for his movies. In January 2021, Mourya initially took Rs. 2.5 lakhs as token amount. He also sent Singh a WhatsApp message in which there was a letter of intent from Panorama studios mentioning the willingness of the studio to buy one of Singh’s movies for Rs. 4 crores.

“Mourya also said he had given Rs 1.5 lakhs to an official of Panorama Studios and took the said amount [from Singh],” an officer said.

Two days later, Mourya sent a letter of intent from another company saying the OTT platform had agreed to buy two other movies, for which Singh needed to pay Rs 1.50 lakhs. Singh paid through net-banking. Mourya introduced Singh to more people saying they were from direction, production, creative and technician teams and took another Rs 1.50 lakhs from him.

Singh went to Manali to shoot the movie ‘MD’. Mourya, who accompanied Singh, told him not to sign actors Rahul Dev and Divya Dutta as Disney+ Hotstar had suggested he choose other actors. He also suggested taking on Akshata Suluja, a writer, to rework ‘MD’ and make it better, for which he charged Rs 5.50 lakhs. Suluja asked Singh to take Sanjay Kapoor and Anupria Goenka, and Mourya took another Rs. 15 lakhs from Singh.

When Singh didn’t receive any response from Hotstar, Suluja and Mourya introduced Singh to their “partners”, Sanjay Shah and Radhika, saying they would help find another OTT platform if Singh released more funds.

Finally, Singh realised he had spent Rs 48 lakhs and received nothing in return. He registered an FIR.

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The cyber cell of the Mumbai police (North region) has arrested a 29-year-old who, along with three others, was running a racket of duping people in the Bollywood on the pretext of securing deals with OTT platforms, police said.

The cyber police arrested Rajat Mourya on the complaint of film producer Maan Singh, who was duped to the tune of Rs. 48 lakhs between December 2020 and June 2022. He was looking forward to a deal with OTT platforms for his two films — MD Platinum and Alpaviram.

According to the complaint, Singh met Mourya through a common friend, who said the latter has contacts in many OTT platforms. Mourya showed him some of his WhatsApp messages with “Hotstar officials” to win his confidence, promised him a deal for his upcoming movies, and asked for Rs. 10 lakhs. To convince him further, Mourya sent Singh his certificates, which were later found to be forged, and took a payment of Rs 2.50 lakhs.

Among the “proofs” of his “contacts” Mourya shared with Singh was a letter of intent from Panorama Studios, stating that they agreed to proceed with Singh’s movie for Rs. 4 crores, police said. Based on this fake letter, Rajat got Rs 1.50 lakh more from Singh “to make payments to Panorama officials”. Two days later, Mourya sent Singh another letter of intent from another OTT platform and took Rs 1.50 lakh, states the remand application.

During the shoots of MD Platinum, Mourya accompanied Singh and told him not to cast actors Rahul Dev and Divya Dutta, as Hotstar has suggested other actors for the film. “Mourya also suggested he hire writer Akshata Saluja, who will rewrite the film to make it much better for platforms like Hotstar, and took Rs 5.5 lakhs more from Singh,” reads the remand application.

“Later, Akshata suggested that Singh take Sanjay Kapoor and Anupria Goenka, and Mourya took Rs 15 lakhs more from him,” it added.  “When Singh didn’t receive any response from Hotstar, Akshata and Mourya introduced him to their partners Sanjay Shah and Radhika, claiming that they will find another OTT platform for his film,” an officer said. 

In the wake of #MeToo movement in India, Kumar Mangat's studio implements new contract where aspiring actors can complain about untoward sexual advances during audition
Tanushree Dutta, who sparked off #MeToo India, reiterated time and again that the movement is a social change that goes well beyond naming and shaming sexual predators. In the wake of the movement that has taken Bollywood by storm, studios appear to be working out ways of creating safer workplaces for women.

In the latest development, producer Kumar Mangat Pathak has implemented a new system in his production house Panorama Studios — after their auditions, aspiring actors can fill out a specially designed feedback form where they can complain about untoward sexual advances during auditions, if any.

An actor, who recently auditioned for a film at Pathak's office, told mid-day, "After the audition was over, the associate handed me a form, where I was required to write my name and photo ID details, along with my feedback on the experience I had during the session. It also has a note to assure the producers that I was safe during the audition, and wasn't mistreated or harassed by anyone."

The move comes months after Vicky Sidana, who used to handle the casting process of most movies made under the banner, was accused of sexual harassment by several survivors. The studio has apparently distanced itself from the alleged offender since.

Stressing on the need to create a safe environment at work, Pathak told mid-day, "Firstly, we ensure that the auditions take place in our office premises. We have installed CCTV cameras in the audition rooms. Post this, we hand the aspiring actor a document to take it in writing that his/her experience wasn't an unpleasant one. If someone raises a red flag, we have a redressal committee [a 10-member team with a legal POSH expert on board] that will address the complaint within a fortnight. It has been two months since we implemented this."