Who is Gagan Dev Riar? All About Actor Who Plays Abdul Karim Telgi In Scam 2003

After presenting a gripping tale of crime and drama with Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story in 2020, filmmaker Hansal Mehta is back to engage the audience with yet another story of one of India's biggest frauds, Scam 2003: The Telgi Story.

Scam 2003 traces the rise of infamous counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi, who was charged with running a fake stamp paper racket estimated to be at a staggering Rs 30,000 crore at the time he was arrested.

Telgi was arrested in 2006 and he was sentenced to 30 years in rigorous imprisonment.

Who is playing Telgi in Scam 2003?

Scam 2003 is all set to premiere on Sony LIV on September 1, and the role of Telgi is being essayed by actor Gagan Dev Riar.

Riar came on board Scam 2003 with an extensive body of work in Indian theatre. He has been a performer, writer and director in the theatre scheme of India for the past 15 years.

Riar has been a part of super-successful plays like 'Stories In A Song' by Sunil Shanbag, and 'Piya Behrupiya' by Atul Kumar. Later, he was cast in Mira Nair's off-Broadway musical version of 'Monsoon Wedding'. Later, she cast him once again in her 'A Suitable Boy', and that is where he was noticed by Hansal Mehta.

Interestingly, Scam 2003 is not Riar's first tryst with Hansal Mehta. In fact, he was supposed to play the role of a bank manager in Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, but he could not sign the dotted line for the web series due to date issues.

About Scam 2003

Scam 2003 is set to show the rise and fall of Abdul Karim Telgi, who started off with manufacturing fake passports, but later moved on to printing counterfeit government stamp papers.

Among those involved in his scam were a number of people including those working at banks, insurance companies, stock brokerage firms, and even cops and politicians.

Scam 2003 will also feature Bharat Jadhav, Shaad Randhawa, Sana Amin Sheikh and Mukesh Tiwari, among others, in key roles.