A man who allegedly posed as an official of a UAE royal family and fled from a Delhi hotel without paying the bill of Rs 23.46 lakh was arrested from his home at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, police said on Sunday.
Mahamed Shareef, a 41-year-old graduate, had claimed that he was a senior functionary in the ‘Office of His Highness Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’ of the UAE government and gave a fake business card and UAE resident card, while checking into The Leela Palace in the national capital on August 1 last year. He stayed in room number 427, till November 20, and allegedly fled without settling the bill of Rs 23.46 lakh, besides taking away valuables, including silver bottle holders.
Following investigations after the hotel approached police, investigators tracked Shareef to his residence at Puttur and arrested him on January 19. A four days’ transit remand was taken from a court there.
In a complaint to the police, The Leela Palace officials said, “it seems the guest purposely gave these cards to create a false image and garner extra trust with an intent to cheat and deceive the hotel at a later stage.”
According to the hotel, Shareef made a few part settlements to the tune of Rs 11.5 lakh in August and September last year. The dues stood at Rs 23,48,413, against which Shareef allegedly gave a post-dated cheque worth Rs 20 lakh.
This cheque was submitted to the bank on September 22, but it bounced due to insufficient funds in Shareef’s account, the hotel said in its complaint. A Delhi court on Sunday remanded Shareef in two days’ police custody.
Duty magistrate Shivangi Vyas sent him to custodial interrogation, noting that police had to recover certain articles, which were allegedly stolen by him, from his residence in Delhi.
Published 22 January 2023, 15:27 IST