The accused had cheated many under the pretext of offering them roles in movies or a house at lower rates. The complainants took help of DN Nagar police chowki outside the station to detain him and handed him over to the Oshiwara police
Accused Sandeep Aher
Fed up with the pace of police work over nabbing a serial conman, a group of citizens decided to catch the fraudster who posed as a politician, director, and producer to cheat dozens of people. He would promise them a flat through his artists' quota or offer them a role in his films.
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A trap was laid by a couple of complainants and Sandeep Aher was finally caught outside Andheri railway station on Friday afternoon. The complainants took help of DN Nagar police chowki outside the station to detain him and handed him over to the Oshiwara police. However, they have alleged that with just a non-cognisable offence report filed against Aher, the cops released him in a few hours.
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Director Amitraj Surya (third from right) with the other complainants
Writer-director Amitraj Surya was among Aher's victims. "We worked hard to get him arrested but the cops released him. After I got in touch with the senior officers, they registered an FIR but the accused was released before that," said Surya, who is also a relative of actor Govinda. Aher had met him through a common friend and promised to get him an Rs 1.5-crore MHADA flat for just Rs 25 lakh. He took Rs 2,300 from Surya after which he stopped responding to the director's calls.
The Mira Road, Dindoshi, Dahisar, Juhu, Versova, and DN Nagar police too have registered a non-cognizable offence against Aher. Santosh Kulkarni, who works at a production company, aided Surya in nabbing Aher.
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A meeting was fixed between Aher and Kulkarni outside Andheri railway station on Friday, near the DN Nagar police chowki. A police officer was informed about the plan. Once he arrived, Kulkarni engaged in a deliberate argument with him and the police officer took the two to the chowki and he was nabbed. Kulkarni too was cheated by Aher for Rs 15,000.
According to the complainants, the accused used his photographs with Bollywood celebrities to gain their trust. "There are photos of him with Shilpa Shetty, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tinu Aanand, etc," said Surya.
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