Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 11: With barely three weeks to go for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, the Crime Branch Jammu has arrested a self-proclaimed travel agent who had been allegedly cheating people by selling fake helicopter tickets at exorbitant rates.
Acting on a complaint from Global Vectra, a private helicopter company authorized to ferry pilgrims to the cave shrine of Lord Shiva in South Kashmir himalayas, a team of Crime Branch personnel nabbed one Sanjay Bajaj alias Siddarth Sharma, who runs an unauthorized travel agency in Roop Nagar area on outskirts of the City.
The Crime Branch during investigations found that Bajaj had allegedly defrauded people on earlier occasions as well and had been “using press and media references” to get himself out of tight spots, sources said.
The case started when a resident of Haridwar approached Global Vectra, seeking to verify the four tickets he had purchased from Bajaj for Rs 22,000, a charge which is higher than the fare fixed by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The cost of one-way travel has been fixed at Rs 1,715.
The company got in touch with the police as the tickets were not issued by it. Police cracked the case after tracing the bank account number to which the money had been transferred.
Sources advised pilgrims using helicopter services to verify their tickets before they proceed for the yatra, which starts on June 29 and will culminate on August 7.
The Crime Branch has also detected that Sanjay Bajaj, Prop Sidhi Vinayak Tour and Travels, Mohalla Hari Om Enclave, Roop Nagar without any authorization had prepared fake and forged helicopter tickets and sent them to the complainant for Rs 22,000.
“It was found that the accused had earlier also cheated many innocent pilgrims by resorting to fraudulent means to cause wrongful gains for himself.
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