casting director

morphed images

blackmail and extortion

crime branch

nude photos

He posed asand blackmailed aspiring actresses.A 28-year-old man, who allegedly posed as a ‘casting director’ and createdof women aspiring to act in movies through a mobile application, has been arrested for, police said on Tuesday.The accused Siddharth Sarode, a resident of Sion Chunabhatti, was picked up by Unit 9 of crime branch, Bandra. Explaining his modus operandi, aofficial said the accused got connected with aspiring actresses on Facebook and Whatsapp.“Sarode demanded photographs of women who contacted him for roles. After receiving the photos, he morphed them with ‘Pics Art’ App to create their,” said the police official. He said that Sarode then blackmailed unsuspecting women with these morphed images. According to the official, Sarode threatened at least eight women using this modus operandi and sought varying amounts, ranging from thousands to lakhs, from them.A case was registered against him after a woman victim approached the Mumbai police. “Initially, police didn’t know the name of the accused and his location, but eventually tracked him down through his mobile phone number after 12 days,” said Asha Korkhe, police inspector, Unit 9.Police also sourced footage from a CCTV camera. “We laid a trap in Bandra and contacted him by pretending to be a struggler looking for a break,” said the official.