2011’s Bollywood flick Ladies vs Ricky Bahl turned out to be a box office hit. The movie starred Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, and Parineeti Chopra among others, in pivotal roles. The flick revolves around a con artist who is a serial cheater and a womaniser. Later, a group of women conned by the conman team up to avenge him.
But, recently, the movie’s plot became a reality. Inspired by the movie, a youth turned towards crime and conned several women.
A 30-year-old youth, who reportedly drew inspiration from the Bollywood flick and preyed on lady co-passengers during journeys, was arrested by Delhi Police.
As per reports, the youth, identified as Ankit Choudhary, a resident of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, was a serial cheater and womaniser.
The incident came to light after a woman named Rashmi Chaudhary lodged a complaint with the Delhi Cantt police station on January 9. Rashmi detailed about the incident that took place on January 8 when she boarded a bus from Dehradun to Delhi.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest), Rohit Meena, was quoted as saying, “The accused sat beside her and offered her food, and ultimately duped her with promises of employment in the Delhi Cantt area. Under the influence of drugged food, Rashmi lost Rs 23,000 via UPI transactions, and her jewellery, including her mangal sutra, ring, and earrings, were stolen.”
During the probe, a police team traced the route of the accused, analysed CCTV footage, and conducted inquiries.
“On Monday, the team successfully apprehended Choudhary from near the Kashmiri Gate bus terminal after receiving a tip-off,” the DCP said.
During interrogation, Ankit revealed his modus operandi of befriending co-passengers, particularly women, by offering false promises of jobs or marriage. The accused also confessed to cheating multiple women, with previous involvements in cases in Ludhiana, and Bareilly.
"He cheated them on one pretext or the other. A strip containing four Alprax sedative tablets which were given to the complainant was recovered from his possession. From his residence, jewellery, including one mangal sutra, ring, earrings and articles purchased using cheated money was recovered,” the officer said.
Ankit was previously arrested from Bareilly, UP, for a similar offence in March 2023. He was released on bail in July 2023 but he resumed his fraudulent activities.