MUMBAI, Dec. 4 -- Khar police registered an FIR on Wednesday against an unknown person who has been allegedly impersonating as film director Vikas Harish Bahl and propositioning wannabe actresses for over a year. This follows a complaint registered by Bahl, the director of hit films such as Queen, Super 30 and Shaitan, with the police three weeks ago about a fraud allegedly creating a fake profile on Instagram in his name through which he was luring young hopefuls with film roles. In his written statement on November 12, the 56-year-old Khar resident, who was called out during the MeToo movement eight years ago, told police that an unknown person had created a fake Instagram account vikas_bahl_official which was being used for publicising a new web series for Netflix and inviting actresses for auditions from October 2024 to November 12, 2025. The Instagram account was removed after a written complaint was filed. According to the FIR, Bahl learnt about the fake profile on September 30 through a friend in Delhi. On checking, he found that the fraud had been contacting aspiring actresses through messages. One of them, Aishwarya Sharma, catching a whiff of trouble, called up Bahl on November 15, complaining about incessant messages from the ID vikas_bahl_official. She told him, claiming to be Bahl, the man called her for auditions several times and made suspicious demands. On their first meeting last month at R City Mall, Ghatkopar, he however presented his identity as Rahul, the CEO of Netflix, and a friend of Bahl, and insisted that he wanted to cast her for a film. On their second meeting soon after, he asked Aishwarya to send her semi-nude photos in a bikini through WhatsApp. Following this ask, Aishwarya tracked down Bahl's number and spoke to him about the fraud. On November 28, a woman named Neeta Parayani contacted the filmmaker through his personal assistant Kavita Jethani, complaining about a dubious encounter with a "Rahul, CEO of Netflix, and a friend of Bahl". The fraud got in touch with Neeta through the social media handle and arranged a meeting at Bastian, Dadar. A second meeting followed at a restaurant in Powai, where the man asked for her bank account details saying it was necessary to sign the agreement for casting. She also claimed while travelling in a taxi, he touched her inappropriately. Her suspicions now confirmed, Neeta tracked down Bahl, who told her that the fraud was defaming him by using his name to cheat women. Khar police have registered a case of impersonation against the fraud under Section 319 of the BNS and sections of the Information Technology Act. "We are tracking down the fraud through Instagram and the WhatsApp number," said a police officer from Khar police station. HT's calls to Bahl went unanswered....