<p>The Cubbon Park police have taken Sathyaprakash Samal, (25), a native of Rourkela town in Sundarghar district into custody and recovered Rs 2.81 lakh in cash, computers and electronic gadgets from him.<br /><br />According to police, Samal allegedly swindled Rs 27 lakh from the bank accounts of Thomas Cook, a popular travel firm.<br /><br />Customers of Thomas Cook can book air tickets online at www.thomascook.in, using their credit cards, Visa and Master cards. The payments get automatically deposited in the firm’s account with the HDFC Bank, police said.<br /><br />While auditing its finances between May 15, 2010 and August 8, 2010, the company discovered that transactions of air tickets worth huge sums of money had been declined. <br /><br />Further inquiry and scrutiny of records revealed that some tricksters had booked air tickets worth Rs 27 lakh using various credit cards and later declined transactions.<br /><br />A complaint was lodged on November 22, 2010, and the police took up an investigation.<br /><br />They collected details about Samal with the help of an IP number he had used to commit the offence. <br /><br />A police team from the City left for Rourkela and arrested him. They also froze Rs 23 lakh in his bank account.<br /><br />Police further said Samal booked tickets, obtained them, declined transactions, sold the tickets to passengers and made huge sums of money.<br /><br />During investigation, Samal revealed that he cheated several air travel firms using a similar modus operandi. <br /><br />The Bangalore Airport police had arrested him for a similar offence in 2006. The CID Cyber Crime police took up the investigation and submitted the charge sheet to the court.<br />The case is pending in the court.<br /><br />Held for flesh trade<br /><br />The City Crime Branch police arrested a woman running a flesh trade racket, and recovered Rs 6,200 and a cellphone from her. The suspect was identified as Kavitha (39), a resident of HSR Layout.<br /><br />On a tip-off, police raided a house on 19th Cross, 19th Main, Sector 7, and arrested the Kavitha who had kept a few girls in the house and collected between Rs 5,000 and 10,000 from customers.<br /><br />Two abductors held<br /><br />Kodigehalli police arrested two men in connection with an abduction case on Thursday. The suspects are Dhanendra (21) and Ramesh (27), both from Balaji Layout.<br /><br />According to police, Dhanendra, Ramesh, ‘Rowdy’ Chandrashekhar, Alex and Vinu abducted Prakash, a resident of Balaji Layout, and demanded a ransom of Rs five lakh from Prakash’s family members. However, the police rescued Prakash on May 20, 2011, and arrested Chandrashekhar and Alex, but Ramesh and Dhanendra managed to escape. On a tip-off, the police arrested the duo at the Kodigehalli bus stop.<br /><br />Two houses burgled<br /><br />Thieves struck at two houses on Thursday and made away with cash, jewellery and other valuables.<br /><br />Harish Shetty, a resident of 1st Main, 6th Cross, Hoysalanagar, BSK III Stage, and his wife were away at work. When they returned at 6.30 pm, they found the front door lock open and jewellery worth Rs 1.4 lakh missing. <br /><br />Thieves had broke open almirah using a weapon, police said.<br /><br />In another incident in the Jnanabharathi police limits, burglars raided T Chandrahas’ house on 4th Cross, Malgal, Nagarbhavi by breaking open the front door lock, and fled with jewellery and electronic gadgets worth Rs 3.50 lakh.<br /><br />Chandrahas was not in the City from August 15. He returned on Thursday and found his house burgled.<br /></p>
<p>The Cubbon Park police have taken Sathyaprakash Samal, (25), a native of Rourkela town in Sundarghar district into custody and recovered Rs 2.81 lakh in cash, computers and electronic gadgets from him.<br /><br />According to police, Samal allegedly swindled Rs 27 lakh from the bank accounts of Thomas Cook, a popular travel firm.<br /><br />Customers of Thomas Cook can book air tickets online at www.thomascook.in, using their credit cards, Visa and Master cards. The payments get automatically deposited in the firm’s account with the HDFC Bank, police said.<br /><br />While auditing its finances between May 15, 2010 and August 8, 2010, the company discovered that transactions of air tickets worth huge sums of money had been declined. <br /><br />Further inquiry and scrutiny of records revealed that some tricksters had booked air tickets worth Rs 27 lakh using various credit cards and later declined transactions.<br /><br />A complaint was lodged on November 22, 2010, and the police took up an investigation.<br /><br />They collected details about Samal with the help of an IP number he had used to commit the offence. <br /><br />A police team from the City left for Rourkela and arrested him. They also froze Rs 23 lakh in his bank account.<br /><br />Police further said Samal booked tickets, obtained them, declined transactions, sold the tickets to passengers and made huge sums of money.<br /><br />During investigation, Samal revealed that he cheated several air travel firms using a similar modus operandi. <br /><br />The Bangalore Airport police had arrested him for a similar offence in 2006. The CID Cyber Crime police took up the investigation and submitted the charge sheet to the court.<br />The case is pending in the court.<br /><br />Held for flesh trade<br /><br />The City Crime Branch police arrested a woman running a flesh trade racket, and recovered Rs 6,200 and a cellphone from her. The suspect was identified as Kavitha (39), a resident of HSR Layout.<br /><br />On a tip-off, police raided a house on 19th Cross, 19th Main, Sector 7, and arrested the Kavitha who had kept a few girls in the house and collected between Rs 5,000 and 10,000 from customers.<br /><br />Two abductors held<br /><br />Kodigehalli police arrested two men in connection with an abduction case on Thursday. The suspects are Dhanendra (21) and Ramesh (27), both from Balaji Layout.<br /><br />According to police, Dhanendra, Ramesh, ‘Rowdy’ Chandrashekhar, Alex and Vinu abducted Prakash, a resident of Balaji Layout, and demanded a ransom of Rs five lakh from Prakash’s family members. However, the police rescued Prakash on May 20, 2011, and arrested Chandrashekhar and Alex, but Ramesh and Dhanendra managed to escape. On a tip-off, the police arrested the duo at the Kodigehalli bus stop.<br /><br />Two houses burgled<br /><br />Thieves struck at two houses on Thursday and made away with cash, jewellery and other valuables.<br /><br />Harish Shetty, a resident of 1st Main, 6th Cross, Hoysalanagar, BSK III Stage, and his wife were away at work. When they returned at 6.30 pm, they found the front door lock open and jewellery worth Rs 1.4 lakh missing. <br /><br />Thieves had broke open almirah using a weapon, police said.<br /><br />In another incident in the Jnanabharathi police limits, burglars raided T Chandrahas’ house on 4th Cross, Malgal, Nagarbhavi by breaking open the front door lock, and fled with jewellery and electronic gadgets worth Rs 3.50 lakh.<br /><br />Chandrahas was not in the City from August 15. He returned on Thursday and found his house burgled.<br /></p>
