Casting couch accused cop’s son; 3 victims record statements

Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29 

The Barnala resident arrested in connection with the casting couch by the UT police is the son of a head constable of the Punjab Police and was blackmailing aspiring models for the past six months.

The statements of three models have been recorded by the police. The accused, Harpreet Bawa, tried to lure them on false promises of casting them in movies and songs.

Three mobile phones were recovered from the accused in which around 3,000 pictures were stored. The phones will be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL).

Harpreet Bawa was arrested on a complaint of Darshan Aulakh, a resident of Sector 21 who is an actor and casting director, after he was approached by a model who revealed that a man was using the name of his production house, Darshan Aulakh Productions, to lure models from Chandigarh, Punjab and Mumbai. 

Inspector Harinder Sekhon, in-charge of the cyber crime investigation cell, said the accused had made a fake profile as casting director. “The accused used to take phone numbers of aspiring models and send them offers of roles in movies and songs,” Sekhon said. 

The statements of three models, whom the accused had approached asking them to send objectionable pictures, have 

been recorded by the police. “We have also recovered transcripts of chats between the accused and models, which will be used as evidence,” said a police official.

WhatsApp chats between the accused and other girls were also verified. 

Police officials said the victim’s mobiles would be sent to the CFSL for further investigation. “We want to establish when the photographs were sent on the mobile phones,” said a police official. 

Speaking to mediapersons, the accused said someone from Mumbai had asked him to send pictures of models for a movie. The accused claimed that since Darshan Aulakh was famous, he planned to make a fake profile of Aulkah to lure models.