Pune Crime: 32-year-old architect held for duping 150 aspiring actresses

The Pune police have arrested a 32-year-old architect for allegedly duping nearly 150 women on the pretext of preparing their portfolios and giving them opportunities in films and advertisements

The Pune police have arrested a 32-year-old architect for allegedly duping nearly 150 women on the pretext of preparing their portfolios and giving them opportunities in films and advertisements. Not only this, he has also cheated a number of photographers from Mumbai, Pune and Goa, whom he used to assign the job of clicking the photographs.

Sandeep Mahadev Varambale

According to the police, the arrested accused has been identified as Sandeep Mahadev Varambale alias Sandy Patil, 32, a resident of Sabale lane, Kagal in Kolhapur. He currently resides in Kandivali. He has been arrested under relevant sections of IPC.

Police said that after passing out from a Pune-based college in 2008, Sandeep shifted to Mumbai and started taking photography lessons. That is when he got to know how much photographers charged for making portfolios of aspiring actresses.

Speaking to mid-day, Nitin Bhosale-Patil, senior inspector of Crime Branch Unit I, said, "Sandeep started his own fake company, through which he created portfolios for women and charged something between '15,000 and '75,000 for each of them. He even posed as a film director and producer whenever aspiring actresses approached him. However, after the Mumbai police arrested him in 2013, he got in touch with local photographers and assigned them the work."

He further said, "A couple of victims approached us and said that after clicking the pictures, Sandeep used to blackmail them for more money. He even threatened them of putting up the pictures on social media."

Assistant police inspector Dhananjay Kapre, who is investigating the case, said, "Some of the photographers approached us and said that they were not paid their dues. With the help of some people from the film industry, we laid a trap and arrested him. In a span of six months, 45 women from Pune and some others from Thane, Navi Mumbai, Goa, Panji, Aurangabad, Nashik and Amrawati approached us. Sandeep has duped about 150 women."

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