The arrested accused, Kamal Khanna (50), a Delhi resident, is currently in police custody.
"Only for the betterment and monetary benefits of other devotees of the ISKCON temple, I propose to provide extremely cheap air tickets for the annual pilgrimage organised by the temple to Jagganath Puri and other such holy places,” these were the charming hoax claims of a travel agent who is said to have duped almost 380 devotees by providing them with fake air tickets. The arrested accused, Kamal Khanna (50), a Delhi resident, is currently in police custody.
According to sources, a total of 8 FIRs have been lodged against him at several police stations in the city for cheating and committing forgery to the tune of Rs 35 lakh. Devotees from across the country are coming forward and two more FIRs are expected to be registered in the coming weeks.
One of the devotees, who works with an airline, while requesting anonymity, told DNA that when ISKCON organises the pilgrimage to Puri during Diwali, all the arrangements, regarding accommodation and food, are done by the temple. “I and one of my friends were sent to Puri for Rathyatra festival with valid tickets and later were asked to work with him on a commission basis for gathering more devotees who wanted to book tickets from him. His modus operandi included providing a normal single journey air ticket worth Rs 7,000 in just Rs 5,000 with a return journey along with two extra tickets in case of bulk bookings. Some months prior to the journey, the devotees were provided with different bank account numbers where money was accepted via online transfers.”
After accepting the money, devotees were given Passenger Name Record (PNR) numbers via emails or phone numbers, which in reality, were dummy numbers with no authenticity. “The PNR was generated from a travel website such that the dummy version was just to keep the booking on standby until confirmed. After the full payment, the PNR is usually confirmed but in this case, Khanna used to simply give dummy numbers and gave fake assurances and excuses to devotees that a confirmed PNR would be provided soon. Some of the passengers even received a valid number but most got messages 12 hours before the journey that their tickets were cancelled. These cancellations were made by Khanna and cancellation charges were deposited in his account making him a millionaire overnight,” said a police officer investigating the case.
Another victim, Viral Chaglani, who booked tickets of at least 17 groups of devotees through Khanna, told DNA, “A total of 400 devotees from Mumbai and Pune were conned. Many of them had to book fresh tickets at the available prices on urgent basis. When confronted, he gave many excuses saying that his brother had expired, his wife was detected with cancer etc. In 2017, as many as 300 other devotees from Delhi were looted in a similar manner. Small amounts from 380 accounts to a tune of Rs 30 lakh was conned. The police are recovering the amount. Superintendent of Police (Thane Rural), Shivaji Rathod had launched a manhunt, following which Khanna was arrested from Haridwar.”
Lucky Kulkarni, spokesperson for ISKCON said, "Whenever there are yatras to holy dham, temple organises certain facilities for devotees like accommodation, food (prasad) tour itinerary etc. Travel arrangement is usually done by devotees themselves since the preferred mode of travel differs - air, train or road. Unfortunately, devotees were cheated by a fraud so-called devotee Kamal Khanna aka Keshav Kinkar Das. Going forward, the temple is creating awareness with devotees by a regular announcement in the congregation. We will use our internal communication mode and request devotees to be careful when making bookings for such trips. It is advisable to do it through their regular agent or online websites or authorise a representative of temple deputed for doing travel arrangement (if any) for small yatra where the mode of travel for all is one."
Shivaji Park, Powai, Kasturba Marg, Mira Road and other police stations have registered cases against Khanna under Section 420, 465, 468, 415, 417, 463 and 464 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The website, which Khanna used to forge dummy PNRs, has also slapped a case against him in New Delhi for cheque bouncing.
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