An Andhra Pradesh man was arrested for allegedly cheating passengers at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport by posing as a student of a reputed university and taking money for travel on the pretext that he missed his flight, police said on Monday, January 3. Modela Venkata Dinesh Kumar, a native of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh, has cheated more than 100 passengers so far in the last four to five years, police said.
Police said that on December 19, 2021, the complainant, who is a resident of PG Mens Hostel of Maulana Azad Medical College, was at the Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal 3, near the belt, when 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 said that he had come from Chandigarh and had missed his connecting flight to Vishakhapatnam.
The accused showed him a missed flight ticket to Visakhapatnam costing Rs 15,000 and said he only had Rs 6,500 left with him, according to the complainant. Later, the accused allegedly convinced the victim to pay the difference and promised to return the money once he reached his destination. The complainant said he then sent Rs 9,250 by Google Pay.
When the accused did not return his money despite demanding it 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 analysed and monitored the CCTV cameras installed at the terminals and located one suspected person who used to frequently visit 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 another passenger," Tyagi said, according to PTI.
Interrogation revealed that the accused used to visit different airports to cheat passengers. He used to introduce himself as a student of a reputed university and cheat passengers claiming he had missed his flight. Once he was able to convince the passenger, he would get the ticket money transferred into his bank account, the senior officer said.
It came to light that 5 more FIRs have already been registered against the accused, and there were many complaints against him on Twitter too, police said.