Mumbai Crime: Travel agent arrested for duping ISKCON devotees

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The Kasturba Marg police have booked a travel agent for allegedly duping members of the Girgaon ISKCON temple of lakhs. A senior branch manager working in a nationalised bank had lodged a complaint in this regard at the Kasturba Marg police station, while many others had filed complaints at the Kashimira police station.

The incident came to light when the 52-year-old bank employee called the airline's customer care to confirm her ticket and she was told that no such ticket had been booked.

A resident of Borivli, the victim was to attend a satsang organised by ISKCON at the Jagannath temple in Puri (Odisha) in November last year, her statement to the police said. She had booked five return airline tickets through Kamal Khanna's Sri Chaitanya Travels and had transferred Rs 18,200 via RTGS to his account on July 16, 2018, as an advance.

On July 25, Khanna e-mailed her the tickets (Go Airlines) but when she called the airlines for confirmation, it was revealed that the tickets mailed by the accused were fake. It was also revealed that she was not the only victim of this fraud.

Khanna had cheated many more devotees who had booked tickets to Bhubaneshwar through his travel agency. The Kashimira police, who had received complaints of cheating to the tune of Rs 1,73,000 in total, arrested the accused last week.

A senior police inspector from Kasturba Marg police station said that the accused has been booked under sections 415, 417, 420, 463, 464, 465, 468 and 470 of the IPC that is currently in the custody of the Kashimira police.

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