FIR filed against former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin for allegedly duping travel agent: Report

Former Indian cricket team captain Mohammed Azharuddin was booked on January 22 for allegedly duping a travel agent off Rs 21 lakh.

According to a Free Press Journal report, the complaint was made by Shahab Y Mohammed, a former executive of Jet Airways, and the owner of Danish Tours & Travel.

The report quoted Investigating Officer AD Nagre of the City Chowk police in Aurangabad saying that the first information report also mentioned two others, Mujeeb Khan and Sudheesh Avikkal as suspects and that no arrests have been made yet.

The report noted that between Avikkal booked several tickets between November 9 and November 12, 2019, for Avikkal and Azharuddin to travel to and from various international destinations such as Dubai, Paris, Turin, Amsterdam, Munich, Copenhagen, Manchester, Zagreb, on top airlines.

Avikkal approached the owner of the travel company saying that he was in an emergency, and did not have the funds to pay him immediately for the tickets. Mohammed, the travel company owner, agreed to book the tickets only after Mujeeb Khan, who is the secretary of Azharuddin, vouched for Avikkal.

The report noted that Avikkal promised a part-payment of 13,500 euro (or Rs 10,60,000), through his bank account with the Croatian National Bank, and furnished an email dated November 12, 2019, to the travel company owner.

When Mohammed contacted the bank, they stated that no payment was made. He then tried contacting Azharuddin and Khan, but to no avail. Avikkal, however, continued to promise payment when contacted on November 24. He even sent Mohammed a copy of the cheque made in favour of Danish Tours & Travels on WhatsApp, but no payments were received.

The report noted that Khan and the others even made false promises of full payment to the Aurangabad police over the last two weeks before the FIR was finally registered on January 22.