Pune: A homemaker (38) was arrested on Wednesday on the charge of cheating a 15-year-old girl from her society of Rs3.22 lakh between Sept 18 and Oct 22 by wooing her with an offer of acting in a Bollywood film.
The Hadapsar police produced the woman before a magisterial court, which ordered her custodial remand till Nov 1.
“The girl gave the woman Rs1.7 lakh her father, a grocery storeowner, had kept at home and her mother’s gold chain worth Rs 60,000 for the promised acting role when her parents were out of station. She also paid the woman Rs32,000 using her father’s ATM card, Rs55,000 from his PhonePe account and Rs5,000 through the QR code sent by the woman,” said senior police inspector Santosh Pandhare on Thursday.
The matter came to light when her parents realised that the cash was missing and came to know about the ATM and PhonePe transactions. They suspected the girl because no burglary or theft had occurred at their residence. When her mother took her into confidence, the girl admitted to having given the money to the woman, he said.
Sub-inspector Ashok Gandhale, who is investigating the case, said the arrested woman was a member of “Happy Film City” group on a photo and video-sharing application. One of the members had posted in the group that they were looking for a fresh young actress and that any member could suggest a youngster for a film role.
Gandhale said, “The woman then lured the girl, a Standard IX student at a local school, with the acting role, and took money and the gold chain from her. Preliminary investigations revealed that the member who posted the matter for a young actress is a cyber crook from Jamtara in Jharkhand.”
The woman, during the questioning, told the police that she had transferred the money received from the girl to the crook’s bank account in Jamtara online. She claimed to have returned Rs1 lakh to the girl. But the latter denied receiving money from her, he said.
“We have not taken action against the girl because she had no intention to steal or spend money. Action was taken against the homemaker because she wooed the minor to pay varying amounts for an opening in films,” he added.





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