A small-time television actor, Bhimraj Malji, and three of his aides were this week arrested from Thane for allegedly cheating people to the tune of Rs. 1 crore.
The accused would approach their targets by offering to exchange coins or currency notes of small denominations for high-denomination notes at a premium. They would say, the coins and notes were from donations collected at the Shirdi Sai Baba temple, and the Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi in Bombay. They also offered gold biscuits and other items. The currency notes, coins and gold biscuits traded by the gang were counterfeit and fake.
Bhimraj has played the role of a policeman in a television serial. The names of his accomplices who were arrested are Pravin Varma alias Kamal, Mallesh Dingi alias Mallu, and Chavdappa Kalor.
The police nabbed the four friends following a probe into a cheating complaint lodged by a leather merchant who had been duped of Rs. 2 lakh. The leather merchant had paid them cash as advance for buying leather from them. The other accomplices are absconding.