Fake film director defrauds aspiring actors of Rs4 lakh

Hyderabad:  Three persons with hopes to get into the Tollywood tinsel town were cheated by a fake film director after the latter collected more than 4 lakhs from them after assuring opportunities in his yet to be made film.

After the fake film director decamps with the money collected from them, the victims approached Banjara Hills police station and lodged a complaint against the cheater.

According to police, Rajendra Nayak alias DV Siddhartha, who belongs to Bodhan of Nizamabad district, opened a film productions office named “Om Sairam Productions” at Film Nagar. Later, he gave an advertisement saying he was looking for actors for hero character for his directorial film “Prema+Sneham= Sangeetham”.

Responding to the ad, a young aspirant Sravan Kumar Goud from Railapur village near Medchal of Rangaraeddy district, met Rajendra Nayak for hero character. For that, Rajendra Kumar asked Sravan to pay an advance of Rs.4 lakh to get the opportunity of male lead role in his film to which the latter obliged and paid the said amount. Similarly, two other persons also gave money to Rajendra for other characters in the film. Rajendra took the money from them with an affidavit and told them that the shoot of the film would launch on June 19, but was escaping by telling them irrespective reasons for a month. Four days back, the three persons only went to the office to know that Rajendra Nayak closed the office and fled away with the money collected from them.

On Wednesday, the victims lodged a complaint with Banjara Hills police stating that Rajendra Nayak had also collected money from several persons in the past. Police filed a cheating case and started the probe.