4 held for booking fake tickets of pilgrimage sites’ helicopter tours

The police identified the main accused as Deepak Thakur, a resident of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, and the other three as Jeki Prasad Kahar, Pappu Singh and Vikash Kumar Bhagat, all residents of Parganas in West Bengal.

Four persons, including a BTech student, have been arrested for allegedly duping people of over ₹20 lakh using a fake website advertising helicopter tickets for pilgrimages, including to the Vaishno Devi shrine, Kedarnath and Badrinath, police said on Friday.

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Deputy commissioner of police (special cell - Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations) KPS Malhotra identified the main accused as Deepak Thakur, a resident of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, and the other three as Jeki Prasad Kahar, Pappu Singh and Vikash Kumar Bhagat, all residents of Parganas in West Bengal.

Police said that they received a complaint regarding the alleged fraud from a person who reportedly booked helicopter tickets to visit the Vaishno Devi temple shrine in Jammu.

During enquiry, police examined the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and found around 112 similar complaints linked to the same syndicate, said Malhotra, adding that on technical analysis, the location of suspected persons was found in Bihar, West Bengal and Firozabad.

“Teams conducted parallel raids in Firozabad, Bihar and West Bengal and arrested four accused persons,” the DCP said.

During interrogation, police said, it was revealed that they are part of an organised gang headed by Thakur, a B.Tech student who designed the fake website. “They made a fake website, advertising helicopter tickets for pilgrimages, and the portal resembled ones operated by authorised government agents. They received money online and withdrew it as soon as the money was credited,” said Malhotra, adding that 15 hard disks, two laptops, five mobile phones, one cheque book and an ATM card has been recovered from their possession.