New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) A German couple chose India as their honeymoon place, but the experience soon turned a nightmare when they were cheated of all their savings by two men as soon as they landed in Delhi, police said Tuesday.
The couple was forced to pay Rs.1.6 lakh by a tour operator and a taxi driver after providing them a hotel in Rajasthan.
The accused have been identified as Jahangir Ahmed Wani, a travel and tour operator, and Rajender Singh, the driver. ‘Wani was arrested from his office in Gol Market in Delhi while Singh was apprehended from IGI Monday,’ said Deputy Commissioner of Police IGI, R.A. Sanjeev.
The couple Kai Trostrum and Shirin, hailing from Bonn, landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport Jan 5.
They got married two years ago and had saved their hard earned money for their honeymoon trip to India. ‘The Trostrum couple hired a prepaid taxi and asked the driver to go to Paharganj where they had a hotel booking already. The taxi driver misguided them by telling that due to fog many trains had got cancelled and all the hotels at Paharganj have been booked, but he could manage them a room,’ said Sanjeev.
The taxi driver took them to a travel agency in Gol Market where the travel agent started telling them about tour programmes. ‘Without their permission the agent prepared a tour programme to Rajasthan and threatened the couple and forcibly took their signature in the programme,’ added Sanjeev.
The victim’s were also forced to pay Rs.1.6 lakh through their visa card and the travel agent arranged a taxi for them to Pushkar (Rajasthan). ‘Besides the above amount the agent also had taken ten percent more, that is around 200 USD and 25 Euros. They were dropped at Pushkar Rajasthan in a hotel,’ said Sanjeev.
The couple got scared and they left the hotel and came back to Delhi. ‘After that they went to the German Embassy in Delhi and narrated the whole story. The IGI police received a complaint and arrested the accused,’ said the official.
During interrogation, the accused disclosed that Singh was working as a tout for Wani who is running a travel agency in the name of India Adventure Tour. ‘He lured the innocent foreigners and passengers on one pretext or the other and then money was extorted from them in the name of arranging tours.’
Singh was earlier arrested for touting, while Wani, who was earlier a casual worker with a travel agency, started his own agency two years ago, police said.