Odisha Police arrest man from Mumbai for duping 189 Muslim pilgrims

A firm had collected ₹1.2 crore from the pilgrims promising to take them on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The agency had wooed the pilgrims with offers of a cheap and safe trip to Saudi Arabia.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police arrested a man from Mumbai on charges of cheating 189 Muslim devotees of ₹1.2 crore by promising to take them on Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Police have identified the accused as Nabeel Abdul Mubin Shaikh, one of the owners of the travel agency Al-Adam Tour and Travels. The firm neither took the prospective pilgrims on the pilgrimage nor did it refund the amount collected, EOW said.

The police began investigation after a case was registered at the Dhamnagar police station of Bhadrak district. “The proprietors of Mumbai-based ‘Al-Adam Tour and Travels’ had collected cash of ₹45,786 and ₹50,786 totaling to ₹1.2 crore from each of 189 devotees during the period from 2019-23, to arrange their pilgrimage to Saudi Arab on the eve of Umrah,” the EOW said in a release.

The EOW said that between 2019 and 2023, the agency floated advertisements on social media apart from distributing leaflets detailing tour packages assuring the pilgrims of cheap, secured and safe pilgrimage

The agency said devotees from Bhadrak, Balasore, Baripada and other parts of Odisha had paid the agency in advance. But when they demanded their money back, the travel agency shut down all communication channels.

Published - September 30, 2024 09:26 pm IST