Bengaluru, Aug 19: A 22-year-old man allegedly masqueraded as Sandalwood actor-singer Vasishta N Simha and his fictitious assistant and duped an aspiring actress of Rs 25,000.
Cybercrime police on Saturday arrested the impersonator, Venkatesh Bavasar, a resident of Hoysala Nagar in Sunkadakatte, after the actor lodged a complaint.
Venkatesh created a Facebook account in Vasishta’s name and started befriending women and chatting with them. He also shared his contact numbers with some of the women, who began connecting with him on WhatsApp. On the Truecaller app too, he had identified himself as Vasishta.
One of the women he had befriended on Facebook requested Venkatesh to get her a role in either a movie or a TV serial. Venkatesh continued to chat with her and told her he isn’t attending to voice calls till December-end as he was going through a rough patch. Believing it, the woman continued to chat with him. Venkatesh, meanwhile, shared with the woman the contact number of a man named Venky Rao, who he claimed was his assistant. Venky Rao, however, was none other than Venkatesh himself.
Venky took the woman to shooting spots a couple of times to make her believe that he had contacts in the industry. On a couple of occasions, the woman’s daughter too accompanied the duo. Venky told the woman he’d help her daughter to find a place in the industry. Venky took Rs 25,000 from the woman to get her and her daughter roles in movies and TV serials. He also told the woman that Vasishta was in love with her and wanted to marry her.
However, the fraud stood exposed when the woman accidentally made a video call to Venkatesh (Vasishta) and he picked up the call. The woman and her daughter approached Vasishta and explained to the actor that they had been taken for a ride. Probe revealed Venkatesh’s only link to Kannada film or TV serial industry was a make-up artist, who unknowingly facilitated his visits to the shooting locations.
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