Mumbai man faces abuse as phone number close to Rhea Chakraborty’s

A Mumbai resident, working as a clerical staffer in an educational institution, had to block as many as 150 callers to protect himself from abuses coming his way. That was because his mobile number closely resembles that of actor Rhea Chakraborty.

According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Sagar Surve's mobile number differs from that of Rhea's by just one digit. He has been receiving messages of harassment and abuse for close to a week, which led to him blocking as many as 150 callers and later switching off his phone.

Sushant Singh Rajput's girlfriend Rhea has been in the eye of a storm after the late actor's father KK Singh filed an FIR in Patna, accusing her of abetment to suicide and cheating among other charges.

Surve reportedly didn't pay much heed to a caller who asked "for Rhea" and dismissed it off as a "wrong number" as a reply. It never occurred to him that the caller was asking for Rhea, the Bollywood actor. Soon, the frequency of callers increased and in no time, the calls turned abusive. He was quoted in the report as saying, "I started receiving messages, voice calls and video calls on WhatsApp. People asked me to send them a photograph of myself when I told them that they were mistaken. I tried to ignore the calls but it only worsened over the next three days."

The report adds that Surve realised what was happening only after his cousin pointed out that a TV channel had recklessly flashed Rhea's mobile number when it showed Sushant's call records and mentioned how his mobile number differed from her by just a single digit. That's when Surve realised the enormity of his problem.

Meanwhile, Rhea Chakraborty told Supreme Court on Tuesday that there appears to be considerable amount of state interference, influence and therefore an apprehension of bias in the probe conducted by Bihar Police. She added that the FIR lodged against her in Sushant's death case in the state has no connection with any offence in Patna.