Leela Palace cheat impersonates UAE royalty, dupes hotel of over Rs 20 lakh

The man identified as Mahamed Sharif fled with hotel valuables and without settling his outstanding bills causing a huge loss to the hotel worth Rs 23,46,413

A man, who impersonated as an official of the government of the United Arab Emirates, was arrested for allegedly duping a hotel in the national capital by fleeing without paying his outstanding bill worth over Rs 20 lakhs, Delhi Police said.

The man identified as Mahamed Sharif (41), hailing from Karnataka's Dakshin Kannada, presented a fake business card and stayed at the hotel for nearly three months last year, according to the police.

He fled with hotel valuables and without settling his outstanding bills causing a huge loss to the hotel worth Rs 23,46,413.

Following the incident, the police registered the FIR on January 14 this year at Sarojini Nagar police station at the complaint of Anupam Das Gupta who claimed to be the General Manager of the hotel.

"A case under sections 419/420/380 IPC was registered at PS Sarojini Nagar on the complaint of Anupam Das Gupta who alleged that he is the General Manager of The Leela Hotel Palace, Sarojini Nagar, Delhi and the accused person namely Mahamed Sharif stayed at The Leela Palace, New Delhi from 1st August 2022 and he ran off from the hotel on 20th November 2022 with hotel valuables and without settling his outstanding bills," the police said.

A team was constituted based on the complaint to nab the absconding accused and efforts were made to trace the accused.

Sharif was apprehended on January 19 from Dakshin Kannada and was produced before the court.

According to the police, the accused checked into the hotel with a fake business card and impersonated himself as an important functionary of the Government of United Arab Emirates (office of His Highness Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan).

"He also gave a resident card of the United Arab Emirates on his arrival on 1st August 2022. After staying for about 3.5 months, the accused fled from the hotel with hotel valuables and submitted a post-dated cheque worth INR 20 Lakhs, but due to insufficient funds the cheque bounced which clearly signified his malafide intentions and a clear intent to deceive the hotel authorities," the police said.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.