Man arrested for cheating over 2,000 people in tourist scam

Agencies
June 24, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 24: Delhi Police have arrested a 40- year-old man for allegedly cheating more than 2,000 people from all over India of crores on the pretext of providing luxurious holiday tour packages in five-star hotels. The accused, Raman Kapoor, is wanted in several cases of cheating in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.arrest

He was arrested on the intervening night of June 19 and 20 outside Kalinga Hotel, south Tukaganj in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Madhur Verma.

Kapoor had opened a firm in the name of 'Sun Star – The Club' and 'Goodluck Hotels Pvt Ltd'. He used to send his employees to busy marketplaces and petrol pumps with coupons of their company. They would ask visitors to these places to fill up these forms. They would tell visitors that if their names come up in a lucky draw, they would be invited for free dinner with family in a five-star hotel in the city. Later, they used to call the victims to a hotel with family for dinner and his employees used to lure them by showing features and facilities provided by the club.

After the customers would be convinced, they would be charged between Rs one to 1.5 lakh for different types of membership in the company by showing different grade hotels, said the officer. After paying the amount to the accused, the customers, however, would not be able to avail the perks of the membership they had taken. Police had received a complaint from Manoj Kumar, a resident of Patel Garden, Uttam Nagar that he had been cheated to the tune of Rs 1.12 lakh.

The company representatives cheated the complainant on the pretext of providing holiday packages for 12 nights per year in five-star hotels with air-tickets for 20 years after membership. They claimed that Sunstar company has tie-ups with various five-star properties located at prime tourist locations in India and abroad like JW Marriott, Le Meridien, ITC Welcome, Leela Ambience Hotel and others, said the DCP.

The accused also told him that he can discontinue membership in the tenth or twentieth year and he will get back the entire membership amount. They also offered a refund of Rs 2,000 for each holiday to those who did not avail the offers. However, when Kumar tried to avail the holiday offers, he did not get any response from the company, said the officer.

A Crime Branch team conducted several raids in Delhi, Gujarat, Mumbai, UP and Madhya Pradesh in search of the accused persons since they had duped several people in these states with the same modus operandi, he added. Kapoor is a hotel management graduate from IHM, Ahmedabad. He worked with Club Mahindra Holidays for nine years but after a dispute with the company, he left. In 2016, he launched his business of holiday tour packages in which around 2,000 members have joined till date.

He employed people who had earlier worked with various holiday companies and were well-experienced in the field. Kapoor, along with his wife and other associates are also wanted in eight other cases of cheating registered in different police stations in Delhi, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat in Gujarat.

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Agencies
July 2,2020

Tuticorin, Jul 2: The Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) of Tamil Nadu police have arrested five policemen working in Sathankulam police station in Tuticorin district for the murder of P. Jeyaraj and his son J. Bennicks, officials said.

The CBCID also altered the first information report (FIR) registered on the death of Jeyaraj and Bennicks as a murder case from the earlier charge of suspicious death.

The five arrested policemen are: Inspector Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, Head Constable Murugan and Constable Muthuraj.

Ganesh was remanded to custody till July 16 on late Wednesday.

According to Inspector General CBCID Shankar, 12 teams have been formed to carry out the probe into the custodial death of father and son Jeyaraj and Bennicks.

Jeyaraj and Bennicks had been booked for not closing their mobile shop in time on June 19 by the Sathankulam police. They were sent to judicial custody and lodged in Kovilpatti jail on June 21.

Jeyaraj died on June 22 night and Bennicks on June 23 morning in judicial custody, allegedly due to the police torture.

The Madras High Court Bench in Madurai which took up the case suo moto had said there was prima facie evidence to register a murder case against the Sathankulam police officials.

The Kovilpatti Judicial Magistrate M.S. Bharathidasan who was asked to inquire into the case of brutal torture of AJeyaraj and his son Bennicks by the Sathankulam police on June 19 and their subsequent deaths had submitted is report to the High Court.

A woman police constable Revathy, at the Sathankulam police station, in her deposition before Bharathidasan had said that Jeyaraj and Bennicks were beaten with batons throughout the June 19 night.

According to Bharathidasan's report, Revathy also said the victims' blood stains were on the batons of the station police officials and on tables.

She said the batons and the tables should be secured so that the evidence is not lost, the report stated.

Expressing fear that she may be targeted later, Revathy was initially reluctant to sign a printout of her statement but later on being assured of her safety she signed the document.

The court also transferred the probe into the deaths of Jeyaraj and Bennicks to the Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) to gather and protect the evidence till the case is handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The High Court has initiated criminal contempt cases against three police officials - Additional Superintendent of Police Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Prathapan and constable Maharajan - for their behaviour at the Sathankulam police station in front of Magistrate Bharathidasan.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Behrampur, Jun 7: A migrant labourer spent two days in jungle after allegedly being denied entry to a quarantine centre and his village in Behrampur.

According to a local from the village, no one helped the labourer. "He came from Chennai. He went to the police and block office but no one helped. Then, he went to the jungle."

Later, the police took him to the quarantine centre.

As per the Union Health Ministry, there are 2,608 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Odisha, including 996 active cases, 1,604 recovered/discharged/migrated and 8 deaths.

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Agencies
August 9,2020

Vijayawada, Aug 9: The number of those killed in the fire at a hotel being used as a COVID-19 facility in Vijayawada rose to 10 on Sunday, said Vikrant Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government announced Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia each to the families of those who lost their lives in the incident.

According to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Office (CMO), Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also ordered an in-depth probe into the accident and directed authorities to take steps to ensure better medical services to the victims of the accident.

"The hotel was taken on lease and run by Ramesh Hospitals, a private hospital where COVID-19 patients were being treated. 40 patients and 10 medical staff were at the hotel at the time of the incident. 

Officials were directed to launch immediate rescue measures," said Mekathoti Sucharitha, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condoled the loss of the lives in the fire mishap and spoke to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy over the phone and enquired about the accident.

The mishap took place in hotel Swarna Palace which was taken on lease and run by a private hospital for COVID patients.

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