A travel agent was nabbed and Rs 22,06,400 were recovered from his possession. The cash was deposited by Muslim devotees for Umrah pilgrimage; the cash was recovered by the police from an Ahmedabad based travel agent who facilitated tickets for the devotees.
As many as 121 Haj-Umrah pilgrimage devotees were duped to the tune of Rs 43 lakh by the accused Altaf Khairani who collected money and assured that the tickets, passport and visa would be provided to them at the airport and when the victim passengers reached the airport on March 12 and 13, 2016 they did not get anything and could not embark to the journey.
A complaint was made with the Kotwali police station in Balaghat and based on the complaint, a case was registered and investigation was started. An SIT was formed for investigating the case which was successful in the recovery of around Rs 22 lakh.
Documents as evidences regarding the fraud by the accused were provided to Gulf Airlines after which Rs 981000 for 50 tickets of 91 passengers were returned to Atlas Tours and Travels in Mumbai and Rs 1225400 for 41 tickets was returned to Creative Tours and Travels Mumbai. Those bookings were made by SAM travels in Ahmedabad by the accused which were returned to SAM travels and were recovered by police on May 3 and was submitted in district court Balaghat.