New Delhi:
He was aspiring to be a script writer for movies, tried to implement one and landed in jail for murder.
An alumnus of the prestigious Pune Film Institute, Shanti Deep Verma (31), was apprehended two days ago from UP's Bahriach for allegedly murdering an aspiring actor Sumit Tiwari (21) at his rented flat in east Delhi's Mandawli area 11 days ago for Rs two lakh.
Verma made the victim watch a portion of 'Fas Gaye Re Obama' in which the hands and legs of the hero are tied and his mouth gagged and asked him to enact it, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Dheeraj Kumar said today.
"Then Verma tied Tiwari's legs and hands and gagged his mouth. He told the actor that he would release him only after he gets Rs two lakh from his parents. Tiwari struggled to free himself but Verma strangled him and purchased a suitcase from the local market and stuffed the dead body in it.
"He then made the ransom call to his father from Tiwari's mobile. He tried to dispose the dead body but could not succeed. As the time passed, he feared arrest and fled," he said.
Verma kept shifting from Kanpur to Allahabad, to Banaras and Lucknow to hide himself and later when he was going to his parents' house in Bahraich, he was arrested, the police official said.
Verma had four scripts - 'Love in Kasba', 'Sampark Kranti', 'Mohlat' and 'Pechhan' - in his kitty but found no directors or producers for it and was in need for money. He scouted for potential victims in Facebook and Tiwari landed in his net.
Tiwari, who had done a three-month course in acting, had told his family that he will have to visit a flat in Mandawli as he got work with Verma, who offered him a role. He went there on February 20 and 21 but on the second day he did not come back home.
A search at Verma's flat resulted in the recovery of Tiwari's body in a suitcase.
Verma, a graduate from Kanpur University, had also done journalism diploma from Delhi.