Bollywood actor Akshaye Khanna duped of Rs 50 lakh by smooth talking couple

Maybe he didn't hear about Bernard Madoff. Or missed the articles on the Kolkata-based Saradha Group that promised investors the moon but gave them peanuts in the end. Maybe he was busy with films at the time.

It took actor Akshaye Khanna more than two years to realise that the smooth talking Bengali couple who had befriended him at a party and offered to double his money in a year were nothing but big-time fraudsters.

Akshaye Khanna who was conned out of a huge sum of money has submitted an application to the Economic Offences Wing

On Saturday, Khanna, who has acted in several blockbuster films such as Dil Chahta Hai, Hungama and Border, was in the news for all the wrong reasons when the Malabar Hill police and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) initiated a case against Satyabrata and Shona Chakrabarti for duping the actor of Rs 50 lakh.

The cheating case was registered with the Malabar Hill police station initially, after which it was transferred to the EOW (crime branch).

The duo apparently met the film star in a party through a common friend in September 2010, where they introduced him to their firm named Intex Immijet Private Limited which allegedly dealt in the commodity market. According to investigating officers at Malabar Hill police station, the couple asked the actor to invest his money with them, promising to double his investment in a year.

"They told Akshaye that their firm is a profit-generating one butneeds some capital," said a source. Interestingly, the star has registered a case not against individuals but against the firm Intex Immijet.

According to police officials, Khanna had waited patiently for two years for the two accused to double his money as promised but the duo kept postponing the payment and ignoring his calls. A month ago, Khanna submitted an application to the EOW.

Strangely enough, it has now come to light that the EOW actually investigated the case for a month and even interrogated the husband-wife fraudsters and then lodged a First Information Report with the Malabar Hill police station and got it transferred to the crime branch.

Additional Commissioner of Police Rajvardhan Sinha (EOW) said, "We received a complaint from Khanna a month ago after which we did our investigation. We also interrogated the two accused, following which we found enough reasons to register a case. On Friday night a complaint was registered with the Malabar Hill police station."

According to the additional commissioner of police, they have started taking statements of the people involved in the case but haven't arrested anyone yet.

The accused have been booked under Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120 (B) (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. However, they are yet to be arrested.u00a0Despite repeated attempts to contact him, Khanna remained unavailable for comment.