Two tourists from Poland lost two cameras, reportedly worth Rs. 1.5 lakh, to a trickster at Alagarkoil on Tuesday.
The tourists, E. Michael Molik (27) and Christy, had come here from Munnar on Monday. At Arapalayam bus stand, they were befriended by a man who called himself Guru from Hyderabad.
Claiming that he too was a tourist, Guru had taken them to a hotel near Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple. He had come with one Kumar and two women.
The Polish tourists and the two couples had dinner together, police said. The next morning, all the six went to Meenakshi temple.
“Guru told the Polish youths that cameras were not allowed inside the temple. He took their cameras and deposited them with the temple cloakroom. After coming out of the temple, he brought the cameras from the cloakroom and returned them to the foreign tourists,” Oomachikulam Inspector of Police M. Periyasamy said.
Later, Guru took them to Sri Kallazhagar Temple in Alagarkoil, while Kumar and the two women stayed back at the hotel.
On reaching Alagarkoil, Guru had told Michael that cameras were not allowed in the temple too.
He took the cameras from them for depositing them at the cloakroom, but did not return.
The tourists realised that they had been cheated only when the staff at the hotel told them that the tourists from Hyderabad had left without formally checking out, the Inspector said. Based on a complaint from Michael, Appantirupathi police have registered a complaint of cheating.
The police are trying to identify the Hyderabad tourists with the photographs and identity proof submitted at the hotel.
The Polish tourists and the two couples had dinner together
