Five arrested for selling fake Kumbh aerial tour tickets

The matter came to light after a Cuffe-Parade resident and a Colaba resident filed separate complaints

MUMBAI: The Cuffe Parade police have busted a Bihar-based gang that operated a fake website and sold tickets for aerial tours of the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj via helicopters. Five persons including the 28-year-old alleged mastermind of the gang, who studied till class 12 and worked as salesman with various stores in New Delhi earlier, have been arrested, and police are probing if they also created other fake websites to cheat people, said sources.

Five persons including the 28-year-old alleged mastermind of the gang, who studied till class 12 and worked as salesman with various stores in New Delhi earlier, have been arrested

The matter came to light after a Cuffe-Parade resident and a Colaba resident filed separate complaints. The family from Cuffe-Parade, who lodged the first complaint, came across the fake website – mahakumbhhelicopterservice.com – while looking for options for a helicopter tour of Prayagraj. Sometime later, they received a call-back and were told that 26 people could avail a helicopter ride at a discounted rate of ₹60,652 per person.

“Once they paid the booking amount, the family was unable to contact the website operators. Suspecting some foul play, they approached us,” said Pravin Munde, deputy commissioner of police, zone I.

Sankalp Jagdale, 25, a Colaba resident, subsequently filed a similar complaint.

Though the accused told both complainants that Pawan Hans Limited was the helicopter operator, the company does not accept online bookings from websites other than its own, the police found.

Meanwhile, analysis of the bank accounts to which the complainants made payments showed that the defrauded money was withdrawn from ATM kiosks in Bihar Sharif in Bihar’s Nalanda district.

“We studied CCTV footage of ATM kiosks in the area and picked up Avinash Kumar Kamlesh Kumar alias Bittu, 21, who hails from Silao in Nalanda, Bihar. His role was to withdraw the defrauded money from ATMs soon after the money was deposited by clients,” a police officer familiar with the probe told Hindustan Times.

Following the arrest of Avinash Kumar, the team led by assistant police inspector Amit Deokar and sub inspector Rupesh Kumar Bhagat, which is investigating the case, learned he worked for Mukesh Kumar, 28, a resident of Giriyak in Nalanda.

“Mukesh Kumar studied till class 12 and worked as a salesman in Delhi earlier. He started creating such fake websites to cheat people after returning to Bihar,” said Deokar.

Saurabh Kumar, 25, another Nalanda resident and Physics graduate was also part of the racket, police learned.

“Saurabh Kumar studies in a convent school, so he was chosen by Mukesh Kumar to speak to clients and convince them to book helicopter rides,” said Deokar.

Mukesh Kumar, the alleged mastermind of the racket, and Saurabh Kumar were arrested from Nagpur railway station while they were on their way to Secunderabad in Telangana. Surashti Barnawal, 21, a Juhu resident and the fourth accused, was arrested for allegedly supplying the frauds with SIM cards obtained in the names of unsuspecting customers. Sanjit Kumar Mistry, 24, a Nalanda resident, was arrested for allegedly helping the frauds with SIM cards obtained illegally from Mumbai.

“Surashti worked with a mobile service provider and whenever a customer came to her shop to buy SIM cards, she made an additional SIM card using their identity details and supplied these to the frauds,” said the officer quoted earlier.

The accused have been booked under sections 318 (4) (cheating) and 319 (2) (cheating by personation) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and sections 66 (computer related offences), 66C (identity theft) and 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.