Caught in the act!

Upcoming actress Shaurya Chauhan turned the tables on a man who tried to take her for a ride promising her a role in his ’directorial debut.’ Shaurya smelt a rat when the

man called her to a five-star hotel to narrate his script and began requesting her for money saying he lost his credit card.

The man got in touch with Shaurya through her public relations manager Alok Mathur. Calling himself Ravi, he told Mathur that he was looking for an actress for his directorial debut. He told Mathur that he ’had worked with Rajkumar Hirani’ (of Munnabhai fame).

The man then called Shaurya saying he wanted to see her pictures. Later, she got a message in which Ravi said, ’You are confirmed for my Tamil film starring Arya.’ (Arya is a top actor from the South.) A couple of days later, the man called Shaurya again to tell her that ’he is in Chennai and is coming to meet her’.

Shaurya told us, "He was full of himself. He said that Michelle, who is Hrithik Roshan’s hair-dresser, would style my hair in the film. He even claimed that Michelle is his ex-girlfriend. During the course of the conversation, he told me that he had lost his credit card and had no money."

Shaurya paid the bill and left.

On Sunday, they met again at a hotel in Mumbai. Shaurya says, "He told me that Michelle would also be coming. He pretended to make a few calls and told me that Michelle has met with an accident, but it would be great if I could give him Rs 10,000. He claimed he had to give the money to Michelle, saying his brother would deposit Rs 10,000 in my account in an hour and asked for my account number. However, I suspected foul play and chose to wait (for the money to be deposited in my account).

Meanwhile, we drove down till Bandra as he wanted to be dropped there. I kept checking my account but even after an hour, I hadn’t received any money in my account. When he got down, he asked Rs 4,000. By then, I strongly suspected foul play. Nevertheless, I gave him Rs 700 after which he got down from the car and suddenly started running."

That convinced Shaurya that she had been taken for a ride. She decided to teach him a lesson. "He must have done this to many other aspirants in the film industry. I called him and asked him to meet me again on Monday. He came." According to our photographer who was present in the hotel, the man became suspicious on seeing Mathur accompanying Shaurya. After a brief conversation, he tried to run away but was caught by Mathur. On being questioned, he claimed his name is M Kumarappan from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

The duo took him to the police station.

Mathur said, "We have registered an non-cognisable complaint." Shaurya also told us, "After I sent my pictures to Kumarappan, he messaged me that he had finalised me for a Tamil film. I was quite surprised, as he had not seen me in person. I don’t want any other girl to be trapped again in this manner." So, what did Kumarappan have to say? "I did this because I am in dire need of money." -(TNN)