A man was arrested in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district on Saturday for allegedly duping The Leela Palace hotel in the national capital by fleeing without paying his outstanding bill worth over ₹23 lakhs, reported news agency ANI.
According to the report, the accused introduced himself as an official of the government of the United Arab Emirates and presented a fake business card for a stay at the luxury hotel for nearly three months in 2022. The man identified as Mohammed Sharif, 41, is said to be a resident of Karnataka's Dakshin Kannada and also fled with hotel valuables. The report also said that Delhi police registered an FIR on January 14 at Sarojini Nagar police station on the complaint of Anupam Das Gupta, the general manager of the hotel.
"A case under sections 419, 420, 380 IPC was registered at PS Sarojini Nagar on the complaint of Anupam Das Gupta, general manager of The Leela Hotel Palace, Sarojini Nagar, Delhi and the accused person namely Mohammed Sharif stayed at The Leela Palace, New Delhi from August 1, 2022 and he ran off from the hotel on November 20. 2022 with hotel valuables and without settling his outstanding bills," said police to ANI. The police also said that the accused gave a cheque of Rs. 20 lakhs to hotel authorities on the day of checking out but it later bounced.