The Coimbatore city police on Wednesday arrested a 30-year-old conman who posed as popular playback singer Armaan Malik in Facebook and duped several women of several lakhs.
Mahendra Varman
Coimbatore:
“Many women fell into his trap and accepted his friend request by believing him to be the real singer. After exchanging several messages with them, Mahendra Varman managed to get the contact numbers of the women and convinced them to send their photos through WhatsApp,” police said.
Subsequently, the accused threatened to post their morphed obscene pictures on social media if they failed to give him money. On receiving a complaint from one of the victims, a special team of police trapped the accused in Coimbatore with her help.
Police seized a tab from Mahendra Varman, which had details of the several women duped by him. He was produced in court and lodged in the Coimbatore central prison. Following preliminary inquiries, police suspect that he might have taken up to Rs 50 lakh from as many as 15 women over the last one year. Armaan Malik is a well-known Bollywood singer, who has even crooned in other regional language movies, including Tamil.
According to police, Mahendra Varman, who hailed from Ulundurpet in Villupuram district, lured young
women through his fake Facebook account.
“Many women fell into his trap and accepted his friend request by believing him to be the real singer. After exchanging several messages with them, Mahendra Varman managed to get the contact numbers of the women and convinced them to send their photos through WhatsApp,” police said.
Subsequently, the accused threatened to post their morphed obscene pictures on social media if they failed to give him money. On receiving a complaint from one of the victims, a special team of police trapped the accused in Coimbatore with her help.
Police seized a tab from Mahendra Varman, which had details of the several women duped by him. He was produced in court and lodged in the Coimbatore central prison. Following preliminary inquiries, police suspect that he might have taken up to Rs 50 lakh from as many as 15 women over the last one year. Armaan Malik is a well-known Bollywood singer, who has even crooned in other regional language movies, including Tamil.