‘Makemytrip’ disappeared dodging prospective travelers
Travel agency ‘Makemytrip BD’ defrauded many prospective travelers by fake travel bookings at the Asian Tourism Fair and selling fake foreign tour packages and tickets to the clients. The agency is now disappeared and its managing director (MD) M. M. Muktarul Hasan is on the run.
Jago News investigation found that Muktarul owed a huge amount of money to a number of hotels in Bangladesh, India and Maldives. He is also indebted to Asian Tourism Fair authority and Haque Chamber building (office rent).
‘Makemytrip’ rented 55-56 number stalls at the Asian Tourism Fair held at International Convention City Bashudhara from September 29 to October 1 in 2016. The travel agency received booking orders for trips to different countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives and Bhutan. Several days later, the agency received full amount of money giving fake tickets to the clients.
Md. Emran and Md Masud Rana, two victims of the fraud, informed Jago News that they booked four-person package for Nepal and Bhutan trips by giving Tk. 10 as ‘booking money’ at the Asian Tourism Fair. They paid Tk. 1,50,000 on October 3 and Tk. 64,000 on October 9. Their tour date was from October 11-15.
They got ticket-booking slips of US-Bangla Airlines on October 10. They reached at the airport on flight date October 11 and learned that any ticket was not booked for them. The agency didn’t manage any tickets, though they (clients) were told that Bangladesh Airlines tickets would be managed at 3.00pm.
On October 13, Emran and Masud went to the travel agency office for refunds and Muktarul gave them an advance check (CAP1181022) of BRAC Bank, which was also been rejected. The bank in a return memo said that the account holder stopped payment.
Zannatul Ferdaus, another victim of the cheating, paid Tk. 1,17,000 to Makemytrip’s official Nasim at her house for booking.
This reporter went to Haque Chamber building at the west Pantapath in Dhaka and found the office of ‘Makemytrip’ locked.
The caretaker of the building said, “I don’t know why the office is locked. Many people and police came here to get their information.”
The reporter called him on his mobile number (01977115001) several times but there was no response to the repeated calls. Other five mobile numbers attached with Makemytrip’s website were switched off. Any one didn’t receive land phone (9141735), though it was ringing.
However, Muktarul called from his number to Kamal, an authority of Haque chamber building, and pledged to pay due office rent Tk. 4 lakh on December 1.
One victim of the dodge filed a check-forgery case and a general diary against Muktarul with Sher-e-Bangla Nagor Police Station. He threatened the victim saying, “Any officer-in-charge (OC) of any police station in Bangladesh will be able to do nothing against me.”
Asked about the influence of Muktarul in Panthapath area, Sher-e-Bangla Nagor police station OC GG Biswas said, “We have got a number of complaints against him. We are trying to arrest him.”
Allegations against ‘Makemytrip’
There is an allegation that ‘Makemyrtip’ didn’t pay money to Coral Island Resort at Saint Martin, though it booked a number of rooms. Muktarul owes around seven thousand dollars to a resort in Maldives. He is also indebted to Druk Air of Bhutan.
One the other hand, a businessman from India filed an allegation against the travel agency with Bangladesh Tourism Board. There are documents that it would use fake pads of US-Bangla Airlines to issue fake tickets.
Asian Tourism Fair organizers are yet to get their due money. Mahiuddin Helal, one of the organizers, said, “We are also looking for him. He gave us two checks which were rejected.”
Though police and victims don’t find Muktarul, he was present at a meeting of Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) held in last week, a reliable source told Jago News. The chief executive officer (CEO) of BTB Akhtaruzzaman and other top officials were also present there.
(The article originally published in Bangla edition of Jagonews24.com is written in English by Zahidul Islam)
