Travel agent dupes south Mumbai travellers of Rs 3.08 lakh

A holiday to the picturesque Leh Ladakh has remained a dream for three South Mumbai families despite having planned the vacation and made all payments well in advance The families claimed that they have still not received their air tickets for the tour that is to begin on May 24 A complaint was registered with the Dadar police on May 18 with regard to the alleged fraudNaresh Vasant one of the three complainants stated A booking was made for 11 people from May 24 to May 31 on February 23 consisting of tour cost of Rs 32000 per person and another Rs 28000 per person towards the flight cost with Ankit Bahuva sales staff of Ms Gems Tours and Travels located at Naman Midtown ElphinstoneAlso ReadMumbai photographer duped of Rs 31 lakhAn advance tour booking amount of Rs 10000 per person Rs 110 lakh in total for the trip was made to the travel company Payment of Rs 308 lakh toward air tickets had to be made nextI had asked the sales official to collect the money from my office in Chira Bazar Vasant stated in his complaint but the next day I got a call from Bahuva to say that the payment could be done to his colleagues father who owns a shop in Chira Bazar which I did but we havent yet received any tickets he told midday Bahuva was to provide them the receipt of this payment laterAlso ReadMumbai Crime Man dupes people on pretext of offering a job in Indian RailwaysBahuva who has been out of Mumbai on a tour to Darjeeling said that the agent who was supposed to give us the tickets was absconding and suggested registering a complaintWhy would I lodge a police complaint against a person I have never met or dealt with We had met Ankit and had done our bookings through him Vasant wondered Nita Shah another complainant added They are not willing to take responsibility or even come out of their cabins to talk to us This has led to a lot of loss of time and extreme mental harassment for us Not to mention the illtreatment they are giving us when we visit their office along with the financial pressure to pay the ticket amount again failing which they will not give us a refundVasant who had availed the tour services of Ms Gems Tours and Travels 23 years ago had a good experience then We have nothing personal against the tour company but they are expecting us to pay for the air ticket again which is unfair We have already paid for the air travel and there is no question of we bearing the expenses againNo reason to suspect agentBahuva claimed that he was only trying to help the clients in getting air tickets at a cheaper rate Vineet Jain the agent who is absconding was known to Bahuvas colleague and we had no reason to suspect him as he had promptly confirmed receiving money for air tickets and even refunded payment of Rs 22000 over the cancellation after deductions of one of the 11 passengersWe tried calling him and even visited his address Other than the five tickets to Leh he has not paid any money to the Santacruzbased air ticketing agency If at all the travellers want to complain they should complain against Vineet and not me Bahuva saidJyotin Doshi founder chairman of Ms Gems Tours and Travels said We are operating for the past 36 years and have never come across such a problem before We had done the land package booking for the clients and had nothing to do with their air travel booking which was done completely by a third person The only mistake is that our staff went out of his way to suggest an agents name One of our staff who had recommended the agent was even willing to bear 50 per cent of the clients loss but they demanded the entire refund which is unfairCriminal case or notThe Dadar Police said that the complainant and the travel agency representatives would be questioned before ascertaining if there is ground for a criminal case A police probe is a must in this case to ascertain the genuineness of the complaint and to fix responsibilities If no criminal case is found the complainants can still move the consumer court and demand damages criminal lawyer Dinesh Tiwari saidAlso ReadMumbai Crime Hathway exworker dupes customers with attractive offers in Vile ParleTop News Stories Of The DayMumbai TikTok user arrested for dangerous bike stunts back in 2017Travel agent dupes south Mumbai travellers of Rs 308 lakhMumbai Crime Four nabbed for illegal soil excavation in GoraiMumbai crime Within four hours of murder cops nab 2 accusedShiv Sena corporator Salman Khan discuss Being Human for BMCCongress leaders discuss water issues with Mumbai civic chiefHow did you spend our money BMC chief asks the RailwaysMumbai Sion flyover to be shut for one monthCan we leave the fireflies alone pleaseAlert Mumbai Metro staff helps commuter get back lost wallet in four hoursMumbai lift mishap BDL lift has not had a licence for last 14 yearsPune Loud purring alerts cops to leopard cubs being smuggledBetween the real and the abstractThe future of Idli Manchurianmid day editorial Lets start making every drop of water countBritish 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