A man who fled a luxury Delhi hotel after amassing more than 2.3 million rupees ($28,000) in unpaid bills during a four-month stay is wanted by police.
The scammer, who gave his name as Mohammed Sharif, is also said to have stolen silverware and pearls from the Leela Palace hotel.
The man claimed to be a UAE resident and said he worked for a prominent family in the Emirates, the hotel said.
He produced a business card, a UAE resident card and other documents and routinely chatted to hotel staff about his apparent life in the Emirates, the hotel said in its complaint.
However, Indian police said they don’t believe he had any connection to the UAE and suspect the man was using fake documents.
The man stayed at the hotel until November, racking up a bill of more than 3.5 million rupees ($43,000), the hotel said. He paid 1.1 million rupees of the bill, but left without paying the rest, it added.
He wrote a cheque for a further two million rupees, dated November 20, before vanishing, but it bounced two days later due to insufficient funds, police said.
