EOW arrests fraudster for cheating prospective Haj pilgrims

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has arrested a person in Mumbai on the charges of duping several Muslim devotees of more than Rs 1 crore on the pretext of providing cheap, secured and safe Umrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, said a senior EOW official here on Monday.

The accused, identified as Nabeel Abdul Mubin Shaikh, was arrested by a team of Odisha Police on September 27. He was later produced before the local court in Andheri, Mumbai and brought to Odisha on transit remand.

Based on a complaint lodged by Mir Khurshid of Kazimahala under Dhamnagar police limits of Bhadrak district, the EOW on September 12 registered a case against the proprietors of ‘Al-Adam Tour & Travels,’ including the accused Nabeel, his mother Firdos Bi Abdul Mubin Shaikh and sister Saima Anjum Shaikh, and one of their partners, Md. Bismillah Shaikh, the proprietor of Al-Izma Tours & Travels of Vikhroli Kurla, West Mumbai.

In his complaint, Khurshid alleged that the tour companies’ proprietors collected Rs 1.2 crore from 189 devotees, between 2019 and 2023, to arrange their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia on the eve of Umrah. But, they neither took the prospective pilgrims on pilgrimage nor did they refund the amount collected from them.

“As found on the investigation, during the period from 2019-23, the accused proprietors of M/s Al-Adam Tour & Travel Agency floated advertisements in social media apart from distributing leaflets containing the lucrative packages, contact details etc,” said EOW sources.The accused induced the Muslim devotees to avail the opportunity under two of their tour packages of Rs 45,786 and Rs 50,786 per individual pilgrim to go on Umrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Being induced, several devotees of Bhadrak, Balasore, Baripada and other parts of Odisha deposited their respective amounts in accounts mentioned in the advertisements through bank transfers, in UPI and even by cash.

“The arrested accused Nabeel and his mother are the authorised signatories of the accounts in which the pilgrims’ money has been deposited. The collection of money from devotees by the accused persons continued till the first half of 2023 after which the proprietors switched off their mobile phones and remained disconnected from the depositors,” said EOW sources.

The accused proprietors had also provided cheques to a few investors but the cheques were later dishonoured by the bank.The sleuths also came to know that the tour packages cover the catering facilities extended by the Pakistani nationals for which there was a transaction between the Pakistani nationals and the arrested accused which is still under verification, said EOW sources.