Travel agent arrested for duping people of Rs 1 crore

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 19

A travel agent, Sandeep Kumar Jha, a resident of Khajuri Khas, Northeast Delhi, was arrested for duping people of more than Rs 1 crore, said a police official today. 

He is also wanted in numerous other cheating cases in Jaipur, Pune and Puduchery, the official said.

Jha used to work in a travel agency in Connaught Place. While working there he had issued fake airline tickets and duped numerous people in various parts of the country.

It was further learnt that he had been declared a proclaimed offender in a case of the Barakhama Road Police Station from the Patiala House Court on March 8.

DCP (Crime) Dr Joy Tirkey constituted a police team acting on secret information and Jha was arrested from Sun Light Colony, Delhi.

During interrogation, Jha admitted his involvement in numerous cases. He said he had provided fake air tickets to many people while being employed with a travel agency in Connaught Place. 

He had managed to convince the proprietor of the travel agency using his marketing skills. He could arrange for cheaper air tickets as compared to the prevailing market rates, the official said.

After working honestly for some time, he gained the trust of his employer and soon started cheating the firm and travellers by issuing fake air tickets in place of genuine ones, the DCP said.

He had been evading arrest for a long time.

Jha has done Hotel Management course from Meerut in 2009 and later completed his MBA in Hospitality through correspondence in 2015.

He worked as a steward in five-star hotels in Delhi between 2009 and 2018. The lure of easy money turned him to crime, the official said.