The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha police on Monday said they have arrested one person for allegedly duping 189 Muslim devotees from the state on the pretext of taking them on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The police arrested Nabeel Abdul Mubin Shaikh from Mumbai on September 27 over several charges, including cheating, and produced him before a Balasore court on Monday under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors Act. “Shaikh, who runs a travel agency named ‘Al-Adam Tour & Travels’ along with his father Firdos Bi Abdul Mubin Shaikh and sister Saima Anjum Shaikh, in association with Md.
Bismillah Shaikh who runs AlIzma Tours & Travels in Vikhroli Kurla area of Mumbai, have been accused of taking money from 189 Muslim devotees in Odisha with the promise of taking them on Umrah. The two travel agencies took around ₹ 96,000 from each of the pilgrims, amounting to Rs.1.
2 crore, from 2019 to 2023. But the two travel agencies neither took them on the pilgrimage, nor refunded the amount to the Muslim devotees from Bhadrak, Balasore, Baripada and other parts of Odisha. When the devotees insisted on the refund, the two travel agencies provided them cheques that were dishonoured by the bank,” a senior EOW official said.
The agencies also allegedly collected huge amounts in similar fashion from pilgrims of Maharashtra, Delhi and other places. Umrah is a pilgrimage undertaken by Muslims, which can be performed at any time except during the Hajj season.