Mumbai: Father, son booked for cheating Hajj pilgrims

The Naya Nagar police are looking for a fatherson duo accused of cheating three families of Rs 36 lakh under the guise of facilitating their Hajj pilgrimage This isnrsquot their first offence mdash in 2019 they had allegedly cheated 10 members of a family of Rs 24 lakh with the false promise of facilitating Hajj pilgrimage for them They were subsequently jailed for the fraudThe accused persons have been identified as Ashfaque Ahmed Qureshi and Hannan Qureshi They run the Hajj and Umrah tour and travel office AlAnsar at Crystal Plaza opposite Mira Road Railway Station ThaneThe CaseOne of the victims Sharafat Ehsanmulla Hussain63 a resident of Orchid Jahangir Enclave in Mira Road was planning to perform Hajj with his wife this year He had applied for the Hajj through the government quota and was awaiting the lottery results when he met Ashfaque Qureshi through a common friend outside a mosque near his residence His friend vouched for Qureshirsquos services convincing Hussain to trust him Subsequently he transferred Rs 10 lakh to two people including his wife The accused even handed over Hajj kit bags and promised tickets for the final flight in June this yearHowever the day before departure Hussain was shocked when Qureshi stopped answering his calls ldquoIf I had known about this fraudulent activity I would have gone through the government quota for Hajjrdquo Hussain told midday ldquoWe kept asking the accused to return our money but he kept delaying We had no choice but to seek police help Thatrsquos when we found out he had duped many people in 2019 as wellrdquoAshfaque Ahmed Qureshi the accusedThe other victimsMohammed Sikandar Khan a retired Indian Railways employee had planned his Hajj trip this year with his wife through Qureshirsquos company After paying Rs 10 lakh to Qureshi Khan also applied through the governmentrsquos Hajj department He got selected through government quota for which he paid Rs 452 lakh to the Hajj committee He conveyed this development to Qureshi and sought for a refund Qureshi assured him of a refund but never returned the money Khan missed his chance to go on Hajj due to the failure to get his refundAnother victim Shirazullah Mallick a 49yearold software engineer wanted to take his elderly mother and wife on the pilgrimage this year He had initially intended to go with a Nalasoparabased tour company but switched to the Qureshirsquos company after being offered a Rs 15 lakh discount He transferred Rs 1750 lakh to Qureshi The software engineer realised he was cheated when the tour didnrsquot materialise ldquoWhen we went to the Qureshirsquos house to ask him to return our money he went to the police station and filed a case against us for making noise at his houserdquo said the victim ldquoHe doesnrsquot pick up our calls or return our money Later we found out that he had taken money from many others toordquoIt has become clear that this fatherson duo has been running the same scam since 2019 The victims have demanded stringent legal action against them The police are now actively investigating the case and collecting evidenceIn the 2019 cheating case Qureshi and his two sons had been granted bail by the High Court on the condition that they return the money to the victims However as Qureshi failed to fulfill this commitment the High Court revoked his bail about 15 days ago Qureshi and his sons have been absconding since then In the meantime another case was registered against Qureshi yesterday We are actively searching for the accused said Vilas Supe senior police inspector of Naya Nagar police stationExercise cautionldquoRecently there has been a rise in scams where men operating fake travel agencies are deceiving people under the guise of arranging Hajj and Umrah tours Stay vigilant to avoid falling victim to such fraudsrdquo said Mohammed Arif Siddique social activist from Mira Road