Three men, who posed as Mumbai-
based film producers and cheated several hotel owners and struggling actors, have been arrested, police said here today.
The arrested have been identified as Madan Sharma (28), Dinesh Arora (27) and Naushad (22). They were arrested earlier this week.
Five laptops, 40 mobile phones, 13 SIM cards, keys of 11 hotels, 10 PAN cards, 10 Voter ID cards, 11 driving licenses, 7 adhar cards and 22 debit cards have been seized from them, police said.
"They used to book expensive hotels impersonating themselves as film producers and directors. They gave ads calling youths for audition and when they reached hotel, the trio used to ask them to deposit their purses, mobiles, laptops and other valuables with them and wait for audition at a hall," DCP (New Delhi) S B S Tyagi said.
"As the struggling actors waited, they would ask the hotel manager to arrange a cab to bring the 'star' of their movie at the hotel. On one pretext or other, they would carry all the valuables collected with them and flee, leaving everybody clueless," he said.
The gang is involved in over 12 incidents of cheating across the country. They had also registered with 'Just Dial'. They used to give identity cards and phone numbers stolen from their earlier targets to book hotels for their next destination, police said.
"In the last two months, the gang had cheated many hotels including a hotel in Jalandhar, Vikram Hotel in Agra, Hotel Jai Singh in Gwalior, Hotel Clark Inn in Jaipur, Pushkar Resort in Ajmer, Amar Hotel in Noida, Hotel Narula in Panipat, Hilton Hotel in Nehru Place and Hotel Maurya Sheraton in Delhi," Tyagi said.
