Travel agency dupes techie

Intending to honour a long-standing promise to his wife, 26-year-old techie Rohit Paliwal booked a weeklong trip to Thailand from Orange Holidays on MG Road. He paid Rs 45,350 on October 5 and was scheduled to fly out with his wife to Thailand the next week.

However, when the date of departure was nearing, Orange Holidays called up Paliwal to inform him that the trip had been postponed to the week after due to political instability in Thailand. When Paliwal called Orange Holidays on the promised day, they tried to postpone the trip further, stating that airports in Thailand were shut.

"I refused to buy their argument and thought something was fishy, so I asked them to return my money. The trip to Thailand never happened and, instead, I had to run to the company many times to prod them to get my money," said Paliwal. Finally, after much resistance, the management of the company gave him a cheque on December 7.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Paliwal deposited the cheque in his account, only to be told on December 10 that the cheque had bounced because of insufficient balance in the account. A shocked Paliwal rushed to the travel agency's office in Prestige Meridian building on MG Road and found it closed. He asked around and learnt Orange Holidays had vacated the office two days ago.

Paliwal approached the city police commissioner seeking help and was directed to file a complaint with the JB Nagar police station. The case was later transferred to Ashok Nagar police station since the area was under their jurisdiction. "We are following all leads and trying to find the people who duped Paliwal. The travel agency may have cheated more people, but we have received only one complaint so far," said sub-inspector Vijay Hadagali.