Youth Arrested for Cheating Many Posing As Woman Taking Cue from ‘Dream Girl’

Bhopal: Taking a cue from the Ayushmann Khurrana starrer ‘Dream Girl’, a 22-year-old man cheated many pretending to be a woman online. The accused identified as Ashu Mehra, alias Ajay or Chhotu Mehra was arrested by the police in Bhopal.

He allegedly manipulated his voice to sound like a woman’s and seduced his victims into handing over money to him. He was nabbed when one of one of his victims, Aman Namdev, filed a police complaint on June 4.

According to the complaint lodged by Namdev with the police, he had befriended a woman named Shivani Raghuvanshi on Instagram, with whom he never met in person. Shivani pressed Namdev to marry her. According to Namdev, Shivani threatened to commit suicide, when he refused to marry her.

Then a man named Ashu Mehra, claiming to be Shivani’s “Guru bhai “, approached Namdev with the news that Shivani had attempted suicide and needed money for treatment. Fearing something bad may happen, Namdev transferred Rs 70,000 to Ashu.

Police investigation revealed that Ashu Mehra was the man behind the scam. He confessed that he was inspired by the movie ‘Dream Girl’ to speak in a woman’s voice and cheat others. Ashu allegedly created several fake social media profiles under female names on Facebook and Instagram. Using these profiles, he was targeting gullible persons and was extorting money from them by fabricating emergencies such as suicide attempts.

Ashu allegedly conned several persons through this modus operandi.

The police are investigating to identify more victims who may have been cheated in the same manner.