Zirakpur police have booked a travel agent couple on Friday for allegedly duping a local tour operator of nearly ₹70 lakh by issuing fake hotel booking vouchers for international trips.
Police registered a case against Mohit Anand and his wife Nisha Anand, who run Mansa Travel Card at Metro Town Plaza, Lohgarh.
According to the complaint filed by Sumehak Bansal, a resident of Golden Square, Zirakpur, the accused offered him discounted business-to-business rates for international hotel and flight bookings. Bansal said he transferred nearly ₹70 lakh through RTGS, bank deposits and cash between May and June 2024 for bookings for his clients.
The alleged fraud came to light when Bansal’s clients reached hotels in Spain, Monaco, France, the Netherlands, Thailand and Switzerland and found that no valid bookings existed in their names. In some cases, hotel authorities told them the bookings had been cancelled over non-payment, which made Bansal realise the accused allegedly provided fake vouchers.
He then paid additional money to arrange accommodation for the stranded clients.
{{/usCountry}}He then paid additional money to arrange accommodation for the stranded clients.
{{/usCountry}}Police said Mohit Anand later executed an affidavit before the Zirakpur tehsildar promising to repay the money and issued eight cheques worth ₹70 lakh. The cheques, however, were dishonoured, following which the couple allegedly refused to repay the amount.
Following an investigation, the police registered a case on the directions of the SSP under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 336(2) (forgery), 336(3) (making a false document), 338 (forgery of valuable security) and 340(2) (using forged document as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.