Balaji Telefilms files complaint against fraudster for misusing name

Ahmedabad: Mumbai-based Balaji Telefilms, makers of the famous saas-bahu soaps, filed a complaint against a city-based event management company and its proprietor for using its name to extort money in the name of auditions for its serials.
An advertisement published in a local daily in February this year said: "Do you want to star in Balaji's famous television serials? You need to be good looking, have a proper portfolio and some training. You are ready now for your grand launch on some of the most popular serials on the TV. What you have to do though is pay Rs 50,000 for administrative expenses and placement fees."
A number of young boys and girls made a beeline at a city-based mall following this advertisement. However, they soon realised that the entire thing was a sophisticated fraud.
According to a complaint filed by representatives of Mumbai-based Balaji Telefilms Ltd on Wednesday, Naimish alias Rocky, proprietor of Trainz Event Management, used names of Balaji and its online talent portal in his advertisement for talent hunting and later forged the company seal, stamp and logo to get Rs 50,000 from each applicant.
An official release from the company stated that Balaji has not appointed any agency(ies) or person(s) to carry out any auditions on their behalf and henceforth anyone claiming the same should be disregarded.
BK Purohit, inspector of Vastrapur police station, told TOI that they received a complaint on Wednesday. "We are now looking into who placed the advertisement and the persons behind the scam. We don't have any background on Rocky or his company. Investigation is on," said Purohit.
When TOI tried to contact Balaji Telefilms representatives in Mumbai, they said that they had no idea how many applicants were duped and the procedure followed by the fraudsters. The officials also feigned ignorance on whether there were any casting couch' kind of instances. "We want police to probe the matter," said an official from Mumbai.
The police is yet to file an FIR.