Fake travel agent arrested

A 30-year-old tourism diploma holder has been arrested for cheating on the pretext of running a travel agency.

East Vinod Nagar-resident Ravi Rajput used to offer flight tickets on cheap rates. Ravi, however, cancelled the tickets on the travel day to keep the refund, police said.

“Ravi ran Fly Bird Holidays from a rented office in east Delhi’s Madhu Vihar. He was wanted in two cases registered with Madhu Vihar police station,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) B S Gurjar.

According to police, a famous retailer of bakery and confectionery product at south Delhi’s Golf Links and her family members were also stuck in Thailand after being duped by Ravi. A day before their return from Phuket, the family found that the travel agent had cancelled their ticket to keep the refund.

The complainant had told police that he got in touch with Ravi through a friend, who gave his reference and contact numbers. They started communicating through WhatsApp for the family’s trip from Delhi to Bangkok and Phuket.

“The agreed price of return tickets for four members of the family was Rs 26,000 per person,” another police officer added.

Ravi had sent an e-mail having details of the tickets. The complainant cross-checked the PNR and found it to be valid. On getting the confirmed tickets, a payment was made to Ravi.

Days before the return trip, the family again checked the PNR and found that the ticket was invalid. The ticket had been cancelled. When they tried to contact Ravi, he did not respond.

On Friday, sub-inspector Sanjeev Kumar had received information regarding Ravi. “A trap was laid in East Vinod Nagar and Ravi was arrested,” Gurjar added. On being interrogated, Ravi told police that he along with his accomplice Prashant Singh had cheated Rs 5.14 lakh from customers.

Ravi did diploma in tourism in 2006 and worked with call centres in Gurgaon and Noida.