Actor Rakesh Bedi was duped of Rs. 85,000 by a scamster posing as an army personnel. The accused evinced interest in buying Rakesh’s Pune flat which he had advertised as being on sale for Rs. 87 lakh.
The scamster, who identified himself as Aditya Kumar, won Bedi’s confidence by sharing an identity card and other documents claiming that he was in the Indian Army. He told the actor that he had seen the advertisement on a housing portal. Rakesh Bedi believed him as he had sold one of his properties to a defence personnel earlier and that was genuine. The imposter told Bedi that his senior had liked the flat and was going to buy it. He also told him that the senior had an army account and would carry out transactions through it.
Rakesh was provided with an account number and was asked to transfer Re. 1 through GPay. The actor was then asked to transfer Rs. 50,000, which he did. Later, he told the actor that he had transferred the Rs. 50,000 back. When Rakesh told him that he had not received the money, the scamster claimed that as it was an Indian Army account, there had to be a similar balance in the accounts of both the parties. Rakesh Bedi was asked to transfer Rs. 50,000, which he did through his wife’s account. The actor made two more transfers — of Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 10,000. After these two transactions, the accused stopped responding to Rakesh’s calls, which is when he realised that he had been cheated.
The Oshiwara (Bombay) police registered a case on December 30.