Ayan Mukerji’s Facebook impostor arrested, would blackmail models & actresses

Mumbai Crime Branch on Thursday arrested a man who extorted money from struggling models and actresses by blackmailing them. The accused would initiate contact with them by posting as a renowned director or casting director.

In the past, the accused, identified as Mohammad Soheb Iqbal Jetawa, had lured models and actresses to send in their pictures by posing as ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ director Ayan Mukerji, Sahil Menon, Sahil Bhatt and others.

A 23-year-old lodged a complaint on September 28 against one ‘Sahil Menon’, who was posing as Ayan Mukerji, and trying to extort money by threatening to upload her obscene pictures on social media sites. Following her complaint, Jetawa, a Dongri resident, was arrested from Mumbai Central by the Crime Branch.

According to her statement, the accused sent her a friend request on Facebook in October 2015, while posing as Mukerji.

“He had introduced himself as Wake Up Sid director Ayan Mukerji to his last victim, a 23-year-old. While the duo soon got into a relationship, around three months ago, the girl started suspecting she was being cheated and stopped talking to her,” a police source told a leading daily.

However, Jetawa started blackmailing the victim with her nude photos, which he threatened to upload on Facebook, and began extorting money from her.

The accused was successful in extracting lakhs from the victim, but she eventually got fed up and approached Malad police to file a complaint.

Following her complaint, Jetawa was booked under sections 385 (Putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code.

Back in June, another model had accused Mukerji of asking for bold photos on Facebook, but investigation revealed that the account did not belong to the director.

Malad police are currently investigating if there are more such cases and trying to ascertain if Jetawa is linked to any of them.