This fan wanted to meet Kajal Aggarwal, got duped instead
A producer named Saravanakumar alias Gopalakrishnan was arrested recently in Tamil Nadu for duping a youth of Rs. 75 lakh, on the pretext of making him meet popular actress Kajal Aggarwal. The scam was being run in the name of (fake) Locanto website, to which the victim, Pradeep Kumar, fell prey. Apart from arresting him, cops also recovered Rs. 9 lakh from Saravanakumar.
Pradeep was asked to share his photographs and identity proof
According to a Hindustan Times report, Pradeep had registered with the website under peer pressure with a hope to meet celebrities. Soon after registration, he received a call asking him to choose a celebrity he wanted to meet. Pradeep selected Kajal, and was asked to pay Rs. 50,000 as service charge along with his recent photographs and identity proof to proceed further.
Pradeep was assured about his meeting with Kajal
Pradeep, son of a wealthy businessman named Kathiresan, was quick in making the payment following which he was assured that Kajal would be coming to Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu within two days. However, no detail of any meeting was ever shared with him. Rather, the gang continued to extort more money from him in the name of payment required for processing the meeting.
The victim was blackmailed for his (morphed) obscene pictures
Meanwhile, the gang learned that Pradeep's father is rich, and took more money from him. He was also threatened of sending his morphed pictures with the Singham actress to his family and relatives. Fearing family ire, he ended up paying Rs. 75 lakh (in total). A scared Pradeep then left his place, and took refuge in Kolkata. That's when the case flashed.
Pradeep was tracked in Kolkata by the police
It so happened that Pradeep called his father from Kolkata to inform him about his suicide plans. Kathiresan immediately filed a complaint with the Ramanathapuram police, post which Pradeep was tracked in the first week of July, with the help of West Bengal Police.
Siva and Saravanakumar were working on a Tamil film
After his rescue, Pradeep shared details of the bank account in which he had transferred the money. The account was, reportedly, registered in the name of Siva alias Manikandan of Sivaganga district. During interrogation, Siva confessed his involvement in the fraud, revealing that he gave the money to Saravanakumar. Notably, Siva was said to be directing a Tamil film, which was bankrolled by Saravanakumar.
Cops could recover only Rs. 9 lakh from the accused
Based on Pradeep's statement, Saravanakumar was arrested from a lodge in Ashok Nagar area in Chennai. Reportedly, his arrest also busted the racket behind the fake Locanto website. "We could recover only Rs. 9 lakh and a mobile phone from the accused. He claims to have spent rest of the money in cricket gambling," Ramanathapuram's superintendent of police Om Prakash Meena asserted.
