Shah Rukh, Aishwarya

Durban, July 23 (PTI): A teenager and his accomplice have allegedly duped South African fans of thousands of rands promising them a date with superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai in Johannesburg.

Nineteen-year-old Mohammed Saleh, who uses the aliases Yusuf Ebrahim and Ismail Tar, and his 20-year-old accomplice were arrested at a five-star hotel in Johannesburg in a sting operation. They have appeared in court and have been released on bail.

Saleh has been accused of fleecing his victims of up to 60,000 rands (Rs 3,60,000) in exchange for false promises of a day spent with Shah Rukh and tickets to see Aishwarya live in a concert.

Police said Saleh had placed advertisements in several community newspapers in April in which he said Shah Rukh was for hire in South Africa from June 2006 to January 2007 for weddings, birthday parties and social events.

He placed another advertisement last month for a one-night-only concert with Aishwarya in Johannesburg in September. He also printed fake tickets for the concert, the Sunday Times reported.

Aishwarya is in Durban, shooting with Hrithik Roshan for the film Dhoom 2.

Saleh was arrested by the Johannesburg fraud squad last week after he attempted to elicit 25,000 rands (Rs 1,50,000) from a businessman at a five-star hotel.

The businessman who worked with the police to arrest the two “agents” told the paper he was duped of 25,000 rands.

“We had made arrangements to meet at an office suite in Parktown (Johannesburg). I am getting married next year and wanted to give my future wife a surprise by having Khan there. He (Saleh) introduced himself as Yusuf and asked me to pay him 5,000 rands to secure a meeting with Khan, who he said, was in the country shooting a movie,” the businessman told the paper.

“In a second meeting, he told me that Khan was on his way and I could meet him right there. I paid him 20,000 rands to secure the deal. He then left to call Khan and I never saw him again.

“Five minutes later, I received an SMS saying: sorry for taking your money. I will pay you back in December,” he said.