2 arrested for duping people under guise of holiday club membership
MUMBAI: Unit 3 of the Mumbai crime branch arrested two persons on Thursday for duping several people across the country under the pretext of giving membership to a holiday club. The accused, Himanshu Tiwari, 27, a native of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh and Noman Zuber Ahmed Quiser, 28, a native of Kausambi, Uttar Pradesh, claimed to be the directors of a company called Yatri Club of Holidays Private Limited, said police sources.
The accused came to the city a few months ago and stayed as a Paying guest. Cops said the accused had worked in a firm that provides holiday trips. They left the firm two to three years ago and planned to open their firm to cheat people. The accused started the firm in March 2022.
They conducted seminars in hotels across India and convinced people they could get benefits and discounted foreign tour packages, charging lakhs of rupees from them as club membership fees, and even accepted bookings for the foreign clubs but cancelled the trips at the eleventh hour.
“It seems that the firm is bogus, but we are verifying the documents,” said a police officer.
The racket was busted when a 37-year-old man, a share broker by profession, approached the Ghatkopar police, alleging that he was duped of ₹6.70 lakh by the accused. The victim said he became a member of the club and paid the amount in December 2023. The complainant was planning to visit his brother in Dubai, and i n January, he booked the ticket and hotel room through the Yatri Club of Holidays.
The complainant had become a member a few months ago when the accused conducted a seminar in a hotel in the city, and one of them planned his trip in March. The two accused booked a hotel for him and even sent a booking voucher to the complainant. But after a few days, the accused cancelled the ticket without even informing the complainant, said deputy commissioner of police Datta Nalawade of the crime branch.
Once the complainant learnt about it, he immediately tried to contact the accused but was unable to do so. The complainant then approached the Ghatkopar police and registered a case against the accused. The crime branch started conducting a parallel investigation and managed to trace the accused at his native place in Gorakhpur, said Nalawade.
During the investigation, we found that the accused had duped another victim with a similar modus and an FIR was registered with the Sakanaka police against the accused. As of now, 15 people have approached the police, and police are verifying the facts, said Nalawade.