Woman Tries To Leave 5-Star Delhi Hotel Without Paying Rs 5 Lakh Bill, Arrested

The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested a woman for allegedly staying at a luxury hotel near the airport without paying her bill of over Rs 5 lakh, the police said.

The woman, who allegedly made fraudulent payments for all services at the Pullman Hotel in Delhi's Aerocity area, was caught on January 13, they said.

A resident of Andhra Pradesh, Jhansi Rani Samuel had used the hotel's spa facility, with services billed at over Rs 2 lakh, using a fake identity, they added.

She checked in to the hotel on December 30 and stayed for over two weeks before she was arrested for failing to pay her bill.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani said that Samuel was initially detained and questioned but was later arrested for not cooperating.

The police said she claimed to be a doctor and said that her husband is also a doctor and lives in New York.

The Delhi Police added Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) in the FIR registered on January 13.

"She has made fraudulent transactions of around Rs 5,88,176," Ms Rangnani said.

As per the FIR registered on the complaint of the hotel manager, Samuel claimed to be transferring money from her account but was using a fraudulent payment method.

"She was paying with the ICICI Bank UPI app, but upon payment reconciliation, it was discovered that our bank had not received any payment," the manager was quoted as saying in the FIR.

A police officer said while verifying with the spa facility it was found that she had shown a false identity of one Isha Dave and availed services worth Rs 2,11,708.

"When she was confronted by the staff, she tried to escape with her bags from the hotel. She also manhandled the female staff," the officer further said.

The woman was non-cooperative during her questioning and gave contradictory statements, another officer said. She has been asked to provide her bank statement but has failed to do so, the officer added.

"She initially told us that she is a doctor by profession and that her husband is also a doctor who lives in New York. We have tried to approach her husband and parents, who live in Andhra Pradesh,” the officer said, adding that "her claims are being verified”.

The officer also said that they were trying to ascertain if she was a regular offender.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)