2 held for duping DU prof of ₹1.5L

One of the accused persons, Praveen Tiwari (34), was arrested from his home town in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich on Thursday where he had gone for his engagement.

Two men, who allegedly duped a Delhi University professor of ₹1.5 lakh last month by offering air tickets for his travel to Canada, have been arrested by the police’s cyber cell, Delhi police said on Friday.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said police began probe in the case after receiving a complaint from the DU professor on March 29, 2022. (HT File)

One of the accused persons, Praveen Tiwari (34), was arrested from his home town in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich on Thursday where he had gone for his engagement. Police identified the second accused as Rohit Kumar (34), a resident of Rewari in Haryana. The two had posed as travel agents and even had an office in Connaught Place.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said police began probe in the case after receiving a complaint from the DU professor on March 29, 2022. In his complaint, the professor claimed that he was supposed to visit University of Alberta in Canada for an official visit and had asked one of his students to check the ticket rates on a digital platform.

“After checking for tickets on the platform, the professor’s student received multiple calls from a tour operator. She later fixed a deal with Tiwari and got the tickets booked... Tiwari then sent a copy of the ticket on WhatsApp and took ₹1,49,730 for the same. Later, when the professor checked the tickets from the airline, he realised that it had been cancelled. He made efforts to contact the agent but the phone was off,” said DCP Kalsi.

During the probe, police said they found that the same persons had allegedly conned others too using a similar modus operandi. “Our team conducted raids in Zirakpur, Punjab, after receiving information about their location but they had already fled,” said DCP Kalsi.

Later, police received another tip-off that Tiwari had returned to Bahraich for his engagement on April 14. “ Our teams immediately arrested him,” he added.

Police said the two men allegedly posed as agents on different travel websites. Explaining their operation, police said they would initially book the tickets, send it to the victims and later cancel it after pocketing the money.