A case was filed on former Indian cricket team captain and ex-MP Mohammed Azharuddin and two others for allegedly cheating a local travel agent of around Rs 2.10 million, a police official said on Wednesday, 22 January.
"We have lodged a first information report against Mujeeb Khan (Aurangabad), Sudheesh Avikkal (Kerala), Mohammed Azharuddin (Hyderabad). No arrests have been made and further investigations are underway," Investigating Officer A.D. Nagre, of the City Chowk police station, told IANS.
The complaint was lodged by Shahab Y. Mohammed, 49, proprietor of Danish Tours & Travels, a former executive with the defunct Jet Airways.
According to the complainant, between 9 and 12 November 9 last year, Avikkal booked several international airline tickets like Mumbai-Dubai-Paris, Paris-Turin, Turin-Paris, Turin-Amsterdam, Turin-Munich-Amsterdam, Paris-Dubai-Delhi, Copenhagen-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Manchester, Amsterdam-Zagreb, etc. in various names.
Two persons travelled - Azharuddin and Avikkal, but they met three others in Paris, from where they booked other tickets, mostly business class, in top airlines.
Though Avikkal didn't have money, he insisted it was an emergency and he would pay the ticket charges to Mohammed, who relented only after Khan - who is the personal secretary to Azharuddin - gave an assurance on his (Avikkal's) behalf.
However, Avikkal said he would make a part-payment of Euro 13,500 (or Rs 10,60,000), for the tickets through his bank account in the Croatian National Bank. He showed Shahab an email to the effect dated 12 November 2019.
“I was instructed to book so many tickets, cancel tickets, re-book fresh tickets, re-issue, reschedule, etc, which I did on the assurance that the payment was coming. But, on 15 November 2019, the Croatian National Bank informed that no payments had been received from Avikkal,”Shahab Y. Mohammed, Proprietor of Danish Tours & Travels
Saddled with a ticketing bill of over Rs 2 million, Mohammed tried to speak with Azharuddin and Khan, but they evaded him, though Avikkal said on 24 November that he was clearing the full payment of Rs 21,45,000 in favour of the travel agency.
Avikkal sent Mohammed a copy of the cheque made in favour of Danish Tours & Travels for the amount on WhatsApp, but till date, no payments have been made to him, compelling him to lodge the police complaint.
Mohammed said that past two weeks, Khan and the others have been even hoodwinking the Aurangabad police that the payment will be made "anytime", but nothing came and finally the FIR was registered on Wednesday.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)