With the arrest of three members of ‘lapka’ gang, the Crime Branch on Monday claimed to have busted a gang that used to dupe foreign tourists by misusing the banner ‘Incredible India’. The accused were identified as Harpreet singh, Yakub Kawa and Uday Bhan Pandey. They operated in the tourist areas of IGI airport, railway stations, Hazrat Nizamuddin and several other heritage sites in the national Capital viz Rajghat, Red Fort, Qutab Minar, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.
“First they used to trap tourists from the IGI airport or railway stations by faking a placard and then they used to mislead them by selling fake stories about Delhi’s safety,” added Yadav. “They used to dupe tourists by presenting a wrong picture of the national Capital and telling that roads are blocked due to curfew and its unsafe for them to stay here,” added Yadav. After convincing them, they used to take the tourist to a fake travel agency that they said was Government approved and under the banner, Incredible India. They, then, would suggest foreigner to travel to some other cities like Varanasi, Agra, lucknow and Jaipur where they used to charge exorbitant rates for the taxi and hotel they arranged at the new destination, citing emergency reasons, police said.
The arrest took place after the Delhi Police Commissioner’s office received emails from two foreign nationals of France and Belgium respectively. French national, Martin leivasseur through his email complained that he was trapped by one of the members of the group from Indira Gandhi International Airport.