Man held for duping women devotees of Vaishno Devi

New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) A man who duped 50 to 60 women devotees on the pretext of providing them a tour package to Vaishno Devi has been held by the Delhi Police.

The accused identified as Madhur Kumar used to target women devotees during Navratri and other festivals.

Rohit Meena, DCP of Shahdara district, said that the accused used to spread captivating message on social media to dupe women devotees.

The official said that they got a complaint in this respect from one Anamika Sharma. She told the police that she got a message on a Facebook group about a tour package to 'Mata Vaishnao Devi'.

"The tour offer being very captivating i.e Rs 1300 per person including bus charges and meals. And after reaching Vaishno Devi, horse service was also said to be available. She decided to take the offer and deposited the amount online on the provided QR Code by the accused in the message on the Facebook group," the official said.

The victim stated that gathering point of the journey was near Shahadara Metro Station from where they would board a luxury bus.

On the decided date when the complainant along with other 24 women reached on the scheduled place, she found that there was no bus and organiser was also missing.

Soon she found a group of other women was also standing there in search of the same bus. They called on the accused number which was switched off.

"There, they all came to know that they all have deposited the amount on the same mobile number/QR Code Scanner of the cheater and have been cheated/duped on pretext of 'VAISHNO DEVI YATRA AND DARSHAN'. Total 50 to 60 women devotees were cheated by the accused using the same modus operandi so far," the official said.

The police collected all the relevant information regarding the incident from the cheated victims. All Bank details and number of the cheater were analysed. After the analysis and through technical evidences, police succeeded in identifying the cheat as Madhur Kumar, a resident of Panipat, Haryana. The team raided on his hideout and arrested him from Panipat.

"Madhur told the police that he wanted to make easy money and duped women devotees on the pretext of sending them to Vaishno Devi tour.

He further disclosed that he shared the QR code scanner to the victims, this QR code belonged to his brother-in-law namely Tanu who lived at Kurukshetra. From Tanu, the cheated amount was disbursed to various accounts through UPI. Madhur would later receive his share in cash from them," the police said.

Further from the mobile phone of the accused, it was revealed that he was preparing next Vaishno Devi Tour in the month of April by using same modus operandi.