M. Azharuddin booked for allegedly cheating Maha travel agent

The City Chowk Police Station here booked former Indian Cricket Team Captain and ex-MP Mohammed Azharuddin and two others for allegedly cheating a local travel agent of around Rs.2.10 million, an official said on Wednesday.

“We have lodged a first information report against Mujeeb Khan (Aurangabad), Sudheesh Avikkal (Kerala), Mohammed Azharuddin (Hyderabad). No arrests have been made and further investigations are underway,” Investigating Officer A. D. Nagre told IANS.

The complaint was lodged by Shahab Y. Mohammed, 49, proprietor of Danish Tours & Travels here, a former executive with the defunct Jet Airways.

According to the complainant, between Nov. 9-Nov. 12, 2019, Avikkal made bookings of several international airline tickets like Mumbai-Dubai-Paris, Paris-Turin, Turin-Paris, Turin-Amsterdam, Turin-Munich-Amsterdam, Paris-Dubai-Delhi, Copenhagen-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Manchester, Amsterdam-Zagreb, etc. sectors, in various names.

Two persons travelled – Azharuddin and Sudheesh, but they met three others in Paris, from where they booked other tickets, all mostly business class in top airlines.

Though Sudheesh didn’t have money, he insisted it was an emergency and he would pay the ticket charges to Shahab, who relented only after Khan – who is the personal secretary to Azharuddin – gave an assurance on his (Sudheesh’s) behalf.

However, Sudheesh said he would make a part-payment of Euro 13,500 (or Rs.10,60,000), on the ticketing through his bank account in Croatian National Bank. He showed Shahab an email to the effect dated Nov. 12, 2019.

“I was instructed to book so many tickets, cancel tickets, re-book fresh tickets, re-issue, reschedule, etc, which I did on the assurance that the payment was coming. But, on Nov. 15, 2019, the Croatian National Bank informed that no payments had been received from Sudheesh,” Shahab told IANS.

Saddled with a ticketing bill of over Rs.2 million, Shahab tried to speak with Azharuddin and Khan, but they evaded him, though Sudheesh said on Nov. 24 that he was clearing the full payment of Rs.21,45,000 in favour of the travel agency.

Sudheesh sent him a copy of the cheque made in favour of Danish Tours & Travels for the amount on WhatsApp, but till date no payments have been made to Shahab, compelling him to lodge the police complaint.

Shahab said that past two weeks, Khan and the others have been even hoodwinking the Aurangabad Police that the payment will be made “anytime”, but nothing came and finally the FIR was registered today.