Former Indian cricket team captain Mohammad Azharuddinhas been booked along with two others for allegedly duping a travel agent inAurangabad off Rs 20.96 lakh.
"Former Indian cricketer Azharuddin and twoothers have been booked for cheating a travel agent. We are investigating thematter. If the payment is made in court, they will get immediate relief or elsethe trio will be arrested," Investigating officer PSI Amarnath D Nagreconfirmed.
Azharuddin, however, rubbished the travel agent'sclaims in a video message that he posted on Twitter.
"I strongly rubbish the false FIR filed againstme in Aurangabad. I'm consulting my legal team, and would be taking actions asnecessary," Azhar said.
The complainant – Shahab Mohammad, owner of DanishTours and Travels agency in Maharashtra's Aurangabad city, alleged that hebooked various international flight tickets worth Rs 20.96 lakh for Azharuddinand two others in November last year on the request of the former Indiacaptain's personal assistant Mujib Khan, the police official said.
Shahab alleged he was repeatedly promised paymentonline, but he did not receive any money.
In his complaint, Shahab said when he asked for thepayment, Khan's associate Sudesh Awakkal sent an e-mail saying he hastransferred Rs 10.6 lakh to him, but it was not received, the official said.
He said, "I know Khan for years, as he would often book air tickets for Azharuddin. I never faced any issue in the past. This time Khan asked me to book two tickets to Europe for Azharuddin and Avikkal. They travelled from Mumbai to Dubai, then to Paris on Emirates Airlines on November 9, and returned to Mumbai via Delhi on November 12. The tickets cost Rs 20.96 lakh."
He further stated that he was assured payment for the trip. "I received an email from director@kiriasports.com later, saying 50 percent payment i.e. 13,500 euros equivalent to Rs 10.50 lakh was transferred from the Croatian National Bank for these tickets to my account. But actually no such amount was credited to my account," said Shahab.
After he found that he has not received the money, heenquired with the Croatian National Bank and they replied to his mail saying noamount was transferred to his account.