Four arrested for duping people on pretext of booking helicopter tickets to Vaishno Devi shrine

NEW DELHI: Four men were arrested for allegedly duping people on the pretext of providing them helicopter service to the Vaishno Devi shrine, police said on Friday.

The accused have been identified as Deepak Thakur, a resident of Firozabad in UP, Jeki Prasad Kahar, Pappu Singh and Vikash Kumar Bhagat, all residents of Parganas in West Bengal, they said.

The accused persons have defrauded over Rs 20 lakh from different victims, police said.

According to police, they received a complaint regarding some persons who were cheating people on the pretext of booking helicopter tickets for their visit to Vaishno Devi temple shrine in Jammu.

During enquiry via National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, around 112 complaints were found linked to the same syndicate in which people were cheated by the alleged persons through the same modus operandi, a senior police officer said.

On technical analysis, suspected persons were found to be located in Bihar, West Bengal and Firozabad.

Police conducted raids at their respective locations and arrested the four, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO) KPS Malhotra said.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they all were a part of an organised gang headed by Thakur, a website developer and B.

Tech student, who designed the website for cheating religious travellers.

They used several fake accounts for siphoning off the cheated amount, the DCP said.

The gang operated via a fake website, similar to that of government's, for booking helicopter tickets.

After receiving the booking amount in bank accounts, they used to immediately withdraw the sum, police added.