Thane Travel Firm Owner Booked For Duping Agent, Students Of Over Rs 15 Lakh

Police have registered a case against a travel company owner in Maharashtra's Thane district for allegedly cheating a travel sub-agent and 250 students of Rs 15.37 lakh in a flight ticket booking fraud, an official said on Monday.

The accused operated the travel business from Khadakpada area in Kalyan.

The sub-agent, who is the complainant in the case, had entrusted the accused with arranging flight tickets for 500 students from an engineering college in Mumbai's Chembur area who were scheduled to travel to Delhi, the official from Khadakpada police station said.

The accused collected a total amount of Rs 29,78,500 for booking flight tickets in batches.

Initially, the accused delivered tickets for the first batch of 250 students, which helped him win the confidence of the complainant and the college authorities.

"However, for the remaining 250 students, no tickets were provided. Despite multiple reminders and follow-ups for either the tickets or a refund, the accused did not respond," the official said, adding the fraud took place over the last 10 months.

The loss incurred in the second phase of the bookings amounted to Rs 15,37,500, following which the sub-agent approached the police, the official said.

"We have registered an FIR against the owner of the travel company based in Kalyan under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 316(2) (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)