Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, June 2
With the arrest of a 19 years old youth Vibhishan Mahto from Warsiliganj in Nawada district, 130 kms west from here on Wednesday, an inter-state cyber-crime to cheat pilgrims of Char Dham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamnotri and Gangotri) has been busted.
A team of Chamoli district police of Uttarakhand reached the village tracing his mobile location. Vibhíshan has admitted having fleeced pilgrims and collected Rs 20 lakhs in 15 days.
He had hired the services of an IT expert from Hyderabad to host two websites and promote them as top-class service providers.
According to Ms Shweta Choubey, district SP of Chamoli, a pilgrim from Lucknow had complained he had made online payment for helicopter services through the website of Himalyan copter services. When the family reached helipad, there was no booking in the name and the mobile number of the contact person of the service provider was off.
The mobile was put on surveillance and the location was traced at Warsiliganj in Bihar. A four-member team of Chamoli police reached Nawada and traced Vibhishan. Police took him to the ATMs from where he had withdrawn money and deposited in branches of different banks.
Another pilgrim from Kerala had booked air ticket from Dehradun to Cochin through the website, but his ticket too was found fake.
Two pilgrims from Raipur had deposited Rs 97000 for helicopter services and hotel rooms to the self-claimed service provider, a fake one.
Ms Shweta Choubey, SP of Chamoli, is daughter of former IPS late V K Chaubey, who has served in many important positions in Chhattisgarh and undivided Madhya Pradesh.
