A tour operator promised him and his family a trip to China, but is now absconding

Govt official duped of savings

A tour operator promised him and his family a trip to China, but is now absconding

A retired government officer and his family were cheated by a city-based tour operator, who took away his life's savings, promising him a trip to China.

Das who wanted to take his family for a foreign trip after his retirement, approached Royal Holidays on Church Street. The owner, Ningaraj, who had temporarily opened office at UB city, charged Das, his wife Chandramukhi, daughter Anjali Das and friend Ramegowda Rs 60,000 per head for a weeklong China trip package.

Ningaraj and his daughter Rajeshwari, who claimed to be the trip incharge, scheduled a trip for August 4, and gave a receipt for Rs 2.4 lakh.

After Das discussed his trips with his friends HK Chandrappa and BS Sri Sharath, they also wanted to come along. Das took them to Ningaraj, who completed the formalities for the same trip. He got them their visiting visas and other documents ready, promising to handover the tickets on July 27.

But when the date of the trip approached, Ningaraj neither issued the tickets nor was he available on the phone. When he did not send the tickets on the promised date, Das checked with Thai Airways, who confirmed that though the tickets were booked, they were later cancelled due to non-payment.

A shocked Das rushed to Ningaraj's office and came to know that he was in Bangkok. With much difficulty, Das managed to get his contact number and spoke to Ningaraj who apologised and promised to make all the arrangements in a week's time.

After waiting for a week, Das tried to contact Ningaraj again, who by then had shut his office, and was nowhere to be found. Dasu00a0 finally managed to get his arrival date from Bangkok and went to the airport to catch him red-handed, but Ningaraj somehow got to know, and never turned up.

"I am a senior citizen and had wanted to go on a foreign trip with my family on my retirement benefit money," he said adding that Ningaraj has not only cheated his family, but also his friends who had also invested their retirement funds in the trip.

Investigating officer Ajay RM from the Cubbon Park police station said that Ningaraj has cheated many people.
"His company used to be one of the best, but he started cheating people after he incurred huge losses in business because of recession. We have received many complaints earlier as well," he said adding that they were on the lookout for Ningaraj and were waiting for him to return.

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