Man held for cheating 2,000 by selling fake tour packages

A 40-year-old director of a hotel has been arrested from Indore for cheating around 2,000 people from all over India to the tune of over Rs 20 crore on the pretext of providing luxurious holiday and tour packages in five-star hotels, police said on Friday.

According to police, accused Raman Kapoor is a resident of Ahmedabad in Gujarat. He along with his wife and other associates -- Ravinder Khanna, Sarvpreet Nanda, Tapas Sacha, Sidharth Bhalla and Sudhir -- used to lure gullible people with offers of free dinner in five-star hotels, along with air tickets for 20 years, if membership was taken.

He was arrested on Monday from outside Kalinga Hotel in South Tukoganj in Indore.

"Kapoor would introduce himself as director of Sun Star-The Club and Goodluck Hotels Pvt Ltd and claim that the Sunstar has a tie-up with various five-star properties in all prime tourist locations in India and abroad, like JW Marriot, ITC, Leela Ambience and other hotel chains.

"Then he would sell membership by promising attractive offer of 12-nights-free holiday tour packages annually in five-star hotels with air tickets for 20 years," Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma said.

The Crime Branch in May received a complaint from one Manoj Kumar, a resident of west Delhi, against Kapoor and his associates that he was cheated to the tune of Rs 1,12,500 on the pretext of providing tour packages to his company members. But when he tried to avail the holiday, he did not get any response from them.

"Kapoor told interrogators that he is a graduate in Hotel Management from IHM-Ahmedabad and earlier worked with Club Mahindra Holidays company, which is into tour package selling. But he left the job after a dispute over payment.

"Later, he decided to cash in on his previous experience and started duping gullible people by offering his own packages in the name of his registered business entity -- Sunstar Hotel Group," the officer added.

Kapoor later employed Khanna, Nanda, Sacha, Bhalla, Sudhir and some others, who had earlier worked with various tour package companies and were well-versed with the tricks of the trade.

Police were looking for them, Verma said.

--IANS

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