Mumbai: Dreams of OTT release cost film producer Rs 48 lakh

Cops say the gang has duped several people in the Bollywood with the promise of deals with OTT platforms. Representation pic

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 lakh 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 lakh. To convince him further, Mourya sent Singh his certificates, which were later found to be forged, and took a payment of Rs 2.5 lakh.

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 crore, police said. Based on this fake letter, Rajat got Rs 1.5 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 1.5 lakh, states the remand application.

Also Read: Gold and foreign currency worth Rs 8 cr seized at Mumbai airport

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 lakh more from Singh," reads the remand application.

"Later, Akshata suggested that Singh take Sanjay Kapoor and Anupriya Goenka, and Mourya took Rs 15 lakh 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.

Rs 4 cr
Amount shown in fake letter by Singh