Navi Mumbai: The Panvel police have booked a couple for cheating a railway employee of ₹1.70 lakh, by promising to organise a trip to Singapore for her mother and mother-in-law.
The couple, Jeevan and Suvarna Kharat, started a travel agency called New Life Holiday six months ago. They promised their clients to organise foreign trips, and then fled with the money.
According to police sub-inspector Devidas Palve, the railway employee, a resident of Sector 4, Panvel, had paid ₹1.70 lakh to the Kharats in April. “They had promised to organise the Singapore trip in May, but kept postponing it. One day, they shut the shop and disappeared. The complainant realised that she was being cheated, and approached us,” Mr. Palve said.
The complainant came to know of the travel agency at Kapurbawdi in Thane from a colleague. She made the first payment by cheque near Panvel railway station. “As the first transaction happened in our jurisdiction, we registered the complaint. At least 10 people have approached the Kapurbawdi police after the couple fled. The total amount they cheated people of is more than ₹10 lakh. We suspect more people might have been duped, and we urge them to register complaints,” Mr. Palve said.
According to the police, the Kharats have switched off their cell phones and are not traceable. “They are habitual offenders and have cheque bouncing cases and a cheating case in Mulund against them.”
