The Delhi Police on Friday said that they have arrested two persons in connection with a fake online air-ticket booking racket, which recently duped a Delhi University professor who had booked a flight to Canada for attending an official programme.
According to DCP (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi, the accused have been identified as Pravin Tiwari, 34, a resident of Bahraich in U.P. and Rohit Kumar, 34, a resident of Rewari in Haryana.
The Cyber North police station received a complaint from a professor at DU on March 29, wherein he said that he intended to travel to Canada for an official programme to be held in April’s first week. On March 23, his student made an inquiry on his behalf for travel tickets on the Sulekha application and received multiple calls for bookings. “She purportedly settled on a good deal with a fictitious agent named Pravin Tiwari who booked tickets for KLM Airlines and sent her ticket copies on WhatsApp,” the DCP said.
Thereafter, as per the agent’s instructions, the professor deposited ₹1,49,730 in his bank account. However, later on, when he cross-checked the details of the booked ticket with the airline company, he found that the tickets were fake. “Efforts made to contact the agent were in vain as his phone was switched off,” the DCP added.
After a case of cheating was lodged, the police found out that the accused had duped several persons using the same modus operandi. The police also contacted other victims to find other clues.
After sustained efforts, the police were tipped off that the engagement ceremony of one of the accused persons was taking place in Bahraich on Friday. Thereafter, a raid was carried out and the accused were arrested.
During interrogation, the accused told the police that they both met in Pune in 2016, where they were both working as travel agents. After they suffered losses, they shifted to Punjab’s Zirakpur a few months ago and hatched a plan to cheat prospective customers. They registered themselves as agents on the Sulekha app through fake contact numbers. Every time they got leads for a flight ticket enquiry, they used to send fake ticket copies to victims, the police added.
