The accused was arrested in Mumbai on September 27 (Representational)
Bhubaneswar:
The Financial Offence Wing of the Odisha Police arrested an individual from Mumbai for allegedly dishonest Rs 1.20 crore from 189 individuals of the state, promising them the Haj pilgrimage, in accordance with an official assertion issued on Monday.
The accused was arrested within the western metropolis on September 27 and delivered to Bhubaneswar on transit remand, it stated.
The arrest was made based mostly on a written criticism filed by one Mir Khursid of the Dhamnagar space in Bhadrak district.
In accordance with the criticism, two Mumbai-based tour and journey companies had allegedly collected Rs 1.20 crore from 189 potential Haj pilgrims throughout the 2019-23 interval to rearrange for his or her pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
They collected the cash underneath two tour packages of Rs 45,786 and Rs 50,786 per particular person and the proprietors went on deferring the date of pilgrimage through the years, the assertion stated.
Subsequently, the proprietors closed down their workplace and couldn’t be contacted by way of cell phones, it stated.
The possible Haj pilgrims discovered them lacking, the assertion stated.
The journey companies neither took the potential pilgrims to Saudi Arabia nor did they refund the quantity, the police assertion stated.
The financial offence wing has seized cell phones, cash receipts and cheques throughout the investigation, it added.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by EDNBOX employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)