14 October,2020 09:00 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Photo for representational purpose
A 62-year-old man was duped of Rs 12.26 lakh by a travel agent in Mumbai, who took the money to facilitate his and his family members' trip to Mecca and Madina and perform Hajj, the police said.
As per a report in The Indian Express, the man, a retired Central Railway employee, has lodged a complaint with Nagpada police. The police said the accused was a friend of the complainant and had also promised to arrange his daughter's wedding at a mosque in Saudi Arabia. The FIR was registered last week.
"The travel agent is a close friend of mine. We had gone to Mecca in 2017 with our families," said Firoz Alam Naziruddin Khan, the complainant who lived in Jijamata Nagar, Worli, before shifting to Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.
After returning from Mecca, the accused told him he could arrange another trip for the family for Rs 28,000 per person to perform Hajj. "The trip was scheduled for December 2018 and as I was planning to get my daughter married, he said he knew people who would help arrange my daughter's wedding there," Khan said.
Accordingly, Khan made paid Rs 4.76 lakh in advance. "I made bookings for 17 people, which included my family and my son-in-law's family," he told the police.
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The travel agent then made another offer of a trip to Mecca and Madina at Rs 25,000 per person in December 2019. "For 30 family members, I paid him another Rs 7.5 lakh," said Khan.
In March 2018, Khan shifted to Ghazipur but later in October when he contacted the accused for their trip, he asked for more money. "He said I will have to pay more, so I asked him to return my advance following which he promised to arrange the trip in February 2019," Khan said.
The police said the accused kept postponing the trip and later cancelled it. The accused is yet to return the money to the complainant. "I am now settled in UP, so I contacted him on phone and since February he has been promising to return the money," Khan said. Last week, Khan came to Mumbai and lodged a complaint with Nagpada police.
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