Pilgrims conned, left stranded at city airport

The representatives of the tour operator vanished after giving them fake flight tickets, said sources.

According to sources, 200 women, 75 men and 25 children from Panvel village in Raigad district near Mumbai had to return by train to their village. The victims had booked a seven-day trip to Sri Lanka four months ago with the tour operator. They paid Rs 20,250 each for the package that included two-way flight tickets, train ticket fare from Mumbai to Chennai and return journey, food and lodging.

As per the plan, three representatives of the tour operator brought 300 pilgrims to Chennai by train on Saturday morning, made them stay at a lodge and provided them dinner. They reached the international terminal of the airport around 11 pm in vehicles hired by the operator.

At the airport, the travellers were handed over their passports and group flight tickets of Indigo airlines. The representatives allegedly informed the travellers that they had to book a chartered flight for such a huge number of pilgrims and added that they would return around 4 pm after speaking to the airlines officials. As they did not return till 7 am, some of the pilgrims contacted the representatives over the phone and were told that the flight would be ready by 12 noon.

However, the travellers grew suspicious and checked with the Indigo airlines officials and to their shock, they were told that the tickets were fake. When they tried to reach the operator again, the phone numbers were switched off after 9 am. They asked their relatives to visit the tour operator’s office, which was locked.

Following this, the pilgrims decided to return home and lodge a complaint at the local police station. The details of the tour operator were not known as the victims did not lodge a complaint with the city police.