A 32-year old man was arrested from Goa for allegedly posing as an Indian Police Service officer and duping a singer of Rs 25 Lakh on the pretext of organizing a show of the latter, a Mumbai police official said.
The accused contacted city-based singer Ashok Arjun Nikhalje (42) in October posing as an IPS officer and asked the latter to perform at a show in Belgaum in neighbouring Karnataka, the Tilaknagar police station official said.
He then asked Nikhalje to contact one Praveen Dasti for the show. Dasti asked Nikhalje to deposit Rs 2.5 lakh in his account, which the latter did. After this transaction, the accused started avoiding his calls and would at times say the show was cancelled, he said.
According to a report of PTI, Realising he had been duped, Nikhalje approached police, and a probe zeroed in on the accused in Goa on Sunday based on the online transaction trail, the official said.
The account into which the money was deposited belonged to a taxi driver in Goa, the official said, adding the accused was charged under Indian Penal Code provisions for cheating, personating a public servant and other offences, PTI reported.