A British national in her 20s has lodged a complaint wth the Delhi Police alleging that she was cheated, harassed, misbehaved and held hostage by the company Backpacker Travel Centre, who tried to extort money from her in the name of travel pack. The victim wrote an email in this respect to British Embassy and contacted the Delhi Police on Saturday.
The victim had come to Delhi on August 1 and had planned to tour India for two weeks.
“She was checking out from the hotel on August 5 to find another hotel in Central Delhi when a young man came up and said he will help her in finding the hotel. After she told him about her plans of touring places in India, he said he will take her to an information centre, but instead he took her to the travel agency in Connaught Place, where he introduced her to another man,” said a police official, adding the woman had shared her problems with the accused and told him that she was unsure about travelling around India alone.
“Taking advantage of this, the accused convinced her to ‘not give up’ and quoted a price of 800 Euros which she was pressurised to pay. He also removed her passport from her wallet. The victim was frightened and did not resist,” said the official.
She was then taken to a hotel in South Delhi . “On arriving there she received a phone call from her bank enquiring whether she had made a payment of 1,140 Euros. The woman panicked as she was charged extra and immediately blocked her account. She felt very unsafe and decided to leave the hotel when the hotel staff became aggressive and shouted at her to stay in the hotel till the manager came. Somehow she managed to escape and go to the previous hotel,” the official added. “My card was cancelled and I was in Delhi with just Rs1,400. I am distraught and completely knocked of my confidence and I, therefore, booked a flight out of Delhi tomorrow,” alleged the victim.
“On August 27, she left for Britain. Enquiry revealed that several touts had been cheating tourists on various pretext. We are investigating the matter while no arrest was made so far,” said the official.