Fugitive 'con artist' was arrested thrice

May 31, 2013

Actor_Leena_Maria_PaulBangalore, May 31: Actor Leena Maria Paul’s live-in partner ‘cheated’ people in City by claiming high links, say police.

The fugitive live-in partner of actor Leena Maria Paul, who was arrested in New Delhi on Tuesday on the charge of cheating Canara Bank of Rs 19 crore, was apprehended at least thrice by Bangalore police since 2007 but managed to get bail each time.

Balaji alias Sukesh Chandrashekar, Bangalore police asserted, has a history of “cheating” hundreds of people. The Commissioner of Police, B G?Jyothiprakash Mirji, said the Central Crime Branch (CCB)?had been entrusted with tracking Balaji as he is suspected to be hiding in the City.

Information would be shared with law-enforcement agencies in Chennai and New Delhi, if required, Mirji told Deccan Herald. Some sources, although unconfirmed, claimed a special team from Chennai police was also looking for Balaji in Bangalore.

Balaji, who is in his early 20s, dropped out of PUC after studying at Baldwin Boys’ High School. He often “posed” as a relative or a close friend of prominent politicians. In this way, he would lure the gullible into believing that he could get their works done, for a monetary favour.

As per records with the City police, Balaji was a clever “imposter”. Once he was the “grandson” of Tamil Nadu politician M Karunanidhi; later a “close friend” of former Chief Minister H?D?Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Gowda. He also posed as a close associate of Tamil Nadu’s former Finance Minister K Anbazhagan, and as an IAS officer.

First arrest

The first case booked against him in the City was in 2007 when, as a teenager, he “cheated” Subramanya, 75, a landlord, of Rs 1.14 crore, promising to get a BDA site reallotted to him. He had claimed that he was a close friend of Gowda; he even had one of his friends pose as Kumaraswamy’s son.

Police recall that Balaji had “forged” documents pertaining to the BDA to convince Subramanya that “his work was done”. The case was investigated by Hulimavu police who then arrested the teenager and his parents — Chandrashekar and Mala. The entire family was charged with operating as a gang to cheat the old man.

Balaji has a “fetish” for luxury cars and goods — seven cars, including a BMW and Nissan, were confiscated from him. He obtained bail only to revert to “cheating” people. He was then arrested in 2009 for cheating a businessman by posing as the son of former union minister T R Baalu. Police again recovered five high-end cars. He managed to get bail again, but didn’t reform himself, police claimed.

Thirteen cases

He was last arrested on April 11, 2011, near AVM Studio in Chennai when he was travelling by a car which didn’t have a number plate. That time, he was charged with cheating more than 100 men of Rs 10 crore by posing as Karunanidhi’s son. It emerged later that Balaji was involved in 13 cases in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, police recalled.

In the last incident, Balaji convinced two firms and several industrialists that he was an officer with the Government of Karnataka. He duped his gullible victims into believing that there was a project to instal some instrument in government-owned vehicles. The “tenders” for the project would be opened at Bannerghatta and Kudremukh national parks. He asked the businessmen to deposit the money into his HDFC bank account.

He even introduced himself as joint secretary to Karnataka’s chief minister before a Tamil Nadu firm, Lion Dates, saying the government had invited tenders to procure 50 lakh dates. He duped the company into depositing Rs 50,000 in his bank account.

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News Network
July 9,2020

New Delhi, Jul 9: Several Bollywood celebrities including Anil Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha and Anupam Kher mourned the demise of actor Jagdeep.

The veteran actor, whose real name was Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jafri, passed away on Wednesday. He was 81.

Anil Kapoor took to Twitter soon after the demise of the 'Sholay' actor and remembered working with him in 'Ek Baar Kaho.'

"Jagdeep Saab was one of the greatest actors of India...I was his huge fan & was lucky enough to have worked with him in Ek Baar Kaho & many more films...he was always extremely supportive & encouraging...sending my heartfelt condolences & prayers to my friend Javed & family," tweeted Kapoor.

Senior actor Anupam Kher also took to Twitter to express grief. He also recalled a conversation that he had with the late actor about how difficult it is to make people laugh.

"Ek Aur sitaara zameen se aasmaan mein jaa pahucha. #Jagdeep saab hindi film jagat ke eik bahut hi behtareen kalakar the. Eik hasya abhineta ke naate unka koi saani nahi tha. Eik party mei bahut saal pehle unhone mujhse kaha tha, "barkhurdaar! hasna aasan hai, hasaana bahut mushki hai," aapki kami bahut khalegi," tweeted Kher.

Shatrughan Sinha penned a long note for the departed actor on Twitter.

"Deepest condolences on the sad demise of veteran actor, comedian par excellence, iconic #Jagdeep. He was a great human being & very down to earth. I was not only his neighbour during my initial years but also bought my first car 'Austin' from him," he wrote.

"I had the privilege of working with him in many films including late & great #HarmeshMalhotra films & of course in #RatanMohan Jaggu. He will be remembered for the joys & laughter he brought on screen effortlessly, right from Hum Panchi ek daal ke to the epic #Sholay, entertaining us for almost 6 decades," he added.

Sinha ended the note by extending condolences to his family.

"We have lost one of the finest comedians....the great 'Sholay' of an actor 'Soorma Bhopali'! You will remembered through your legacy & will be fondly missed too. Heartfelt prayers & strength to his sons, wonder actor @jaavedjaaferi @NavedJafri & family. Rest in peace," tweeted Sinha.

Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh also took to Twitter to condole the demise of the veteran actor.

"Thank you #Jagdeep sahab for enriching our lives with laughter and happiness that will be cherished for a lifetime. Rest In peace Sir. Deepest Condolences to the family, friends and millions of his fans(just like me)," tweeted Riteish.

"Dearest @jaavedjaaferi @NavedJafri_BOO @MeezaanJ am extremely sorry for your loss. May god give you strength in this difficult time. Big hug," he added.

Riteish's wife and 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na' actor Genelia tweeted, "RIP Jagdeep Sahab ... Remember shooting with you during Life Partner and cracking up with laughter all through the scene.. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have got that chance to work with you.. All my condolences to the family."

Actor Abhishek Bachchan also took to Twitter to express sorrow.

"May you rest in peace Jagdeep sahab. Thank you for filling our lives with smiles," he tweeted.

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News Network
April 2,2020

Mumbai, Apr 2: Ramayan, the over three-decade-old TV series based on Hindu mythology, garnered 170 million viewers in four shows over the last weekend in its new avatar, the BARC said on Thursday.

This catapulted the Ramanand Sagar production as the highest watched serial in the Hindi general entertainment space ever, the Broadcast Audience Research Council said.

The show was relaunched last Saturday amid the gloomy times of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lot of thrust laid by the government machinery to popularise the series.

BARC's chief executive Sunil Lulla said the numbers notched up by the series was a bit surprising and called the move as a brilliant one by the Prasar Bharti.

He said eventually, we will also see advertisers flock the series which will be running for a few more days.

The inaugural show of the series on Saturday morning had 34 million viewers glued to their TV sets watching and enjoyed a rating of 3.4 per cent, while a telecast the same evening had 45 million viewers and a rating of 5.2 per cent.

The show bettered its performance on Sunday, with 40 million and 51 million people watching it in the morning and evening telecasts, respectively.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Mumbai, Aug 2: None of the sim cards that actor Sushant Singh Rajput was using was registered under his name, said the team of Bihar Police, probing his death case, on Sunday.

The team also informed that one of the sim cards that the late actor was using was registered the name of his friend Siddharth Pithani.

"We are now tracking the call detail records (CDRs)," the police said.

The team also said that they will interrogate the family of Sushant Singh Rajput's former manager Disha Salian, who died few days before Sushant's death.

"Even after constant attempts to connect with them on phone, we have failed to establish any contact," it said.

Earlier today, while talking to news agency, the Director-General of Police (DGP) of Bihar Gupteshwar Pandey hinted at the non-cooperation of Mumbai police with his team in their investigation.

"We don't have post-mortem report details, CCTV footage or any information that has been collected by Mumbai Police during probe till now. Our Chief Minister has requested the Maharashtra Chief Minister to ask his police force to cooperate with us," the DGP added.

When asked if Bihar Police want CBI probe into the case, he said, "We are more than capable of doing an unbiased investigation. We hope that Mumbai Police will cooperate with us and we'll conclude the investigation."

Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14. Mumbai Police who was investigating the case had earlier informed that they have recorded the statements of 41 people, including filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra so far.

A team of Bihar Police is in Mumbai to probe the actor's death after an FIR was filed by Rajput's father KK Singh against late actor's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar in connection with the death case under several sections including abetment of suicide.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in Rajput's death case. ED registered the report after an FIR was filed by his father against Chakraborty.

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