Mohammad Azharuddin Booked For Allegedly Cheating Travel Agent

Former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin has once again hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The legendary batsman has landed in hot waters for allegedly cheating a local travel agent. According to reports, a case was filed against Mohammad Azharuddin and two others for allegedly cheating the travel agent of around Rs 2.10 million.

Investigating Officer A.D. Nagre confirmed the news and said that the police is yet to arrest any accused. He confirmed that the investigation is still  underway. The complaint was lodged by 49-year old Shahab Y. Mohammed, 49, proprietor of Danish Tours & Travels in Aurangabad, a former executive with the defunct Jet Airways.

“We have lodged a first information report against Mujeeb Khan (Aurangabad), Sudheesh Avikkal (Kerala), Mohammad Azharuddin (Hyderabad). No arrests have been made and further investigations are underway,” A.D. Nagre, of the City Chowk police station, told IANS.

According to the complainant, between November 9 and 12, 2019, Avikkal booked 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. in various names.

As per reports, Mohammad Azharuddin and Avikkal travelled before meeting three others in Paris. From there, they booked other tickets, mostly business class, in top airlines. Avikkal could not pay the money at the spot and said that he would pay the ticket charges to Mohammed, who relented only after Khan – who is the personal secretary to Azharuddin – gave an assurance on his (Avikkal’s) behalf.

However, Avikkal said he would make a part-payment of Euro 13,500 (or Rs 10,60,000), for the tickets through his bank account in the Croatian National Bank. He showed Mohammed an email to the effect dated November 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 November 15, 2019, the Croatian National Bank informed that no payments had been received from Avikkal,” Mohammed told IANS.

Saddled with a ticketing bill of over Rs 2 million, Mohammed tried to speak with Azharuddin and Khan, but they evaded him, though Avikkal said on November 24 that he was clearing the full payment of Rs 21,45,000 in favour of the travel agency. Avikkal sent Mohammed 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 him. Mohammed eventually decided to lodge a police complaint.

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