Andhra man held at Delhi airport for conning people on pretext he missed flight

PTI, Jan 3, 2022, 5:52 PM IST

A man was arrested for allegedly cheating passengers at the IGI airport by posing as a student of reputed university and then taking money from them for his travel conveyance on the pretext that he missed his flight, police said on Monday.

Modela Venkata Dinesh Kumar, a native of Guntur district in Andhara Pradesh, has cheated more than 100 passengers so far in the last four to five years, they said.

Police said that on December 19, 2021, complainant, who is a resident of PG Mens Hostel Maulana Azad Medical College, travelled from Baroda to Delhi IGI Airport T-3, near the belt, where the accused approached him and stated that he is a student of a reputed university.

According to the complainant, the accused displayed his ID card of the said university and requested that he had come from Chandigarh and had missed his connecting flight to Vishakhapatnam.

The cheater showed him a missed flight ticket to Vishakhapatnam costing Rs 15,000 and said he only had Rs 6,500 left with him. Later, the accused convinced the victim to pay the difference and promised to return the money once he reach his destination. The victim then paid Rs 9,250 by Google pay in his account, the complainant alleged. When the accused did not return his money despite demanding several times, the complainant approached the police and a case was registered in the matter, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Sanjay Tyagi said the team through its sources and electronic surveillance analyzed and monitored the CCTV cameras installed at the terminals and located one suspected person who used to visit frequently at IGI Airport. ”On December 30, on the basis of CCTV footage, alleged suspected person was apprehended from IGI Airport T-2 when he was trying to cheat other passenger,” Tyagi said.

Interrogation revealed that the accused used to visit different airports for cheating passengers. He used to introduce himself as a student of a reputed university and cheated passengers on the pretext of missing his flight. Once he was able to convince the passenger, he used to get the ticket money transferred into his bank account and would cheat the passengers, the senior officer said.

It also came to light that 5 more FIR’s already stands registered against the accused and on Twitter also, there were many complaints against him, police said.