Man who fled Delhi's 5-star hotel without paying Rs 23 lakh bill sent to 2-day custody

Pic Credit: The Leela Palace website

New Delhi: A man was arrested and remanded by a Delhi court for allegedly staying at a five-star hotel for four months by posing as a member of the UAE royal family and leaving with an outstanding bill of over Rs 23 lakh. The Duty Magistrate Shivangi Vyas sent Mahamed Sharif for custodial interrogation and ordered the police to recover certain articles from his residence in Delhi which were allegedly stolen by him.

Man stays in hotel for 3-4 months, then flees

According to police, Sharif checked into The Leela Palace hotel on August 1st of last year and stayed in room number 427 for four months before fleeing on November 20th with hotel valuables and without paying the bills. The judge noted that "Considering the fact that the recovery of the case property -- the stolen articles -- are yet to be effected, accused Mahamed Sharif be remanded in police custody for two days."

Impersonated member of the royal family of UAE

The accused had impersonated a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates and booked the hotel room at a discounted price. He was apprehended on January 19th from Karnataka's Puttur and four days' transit remand was taken from a court in the southern state.

The counsel for the accused opposed the police's plea for remand, claiming that he was illegally arrested and no article was stolen. However, according to police, besides cheating the hotel of Rs 23.46 lakh, he also decamped with valuables, including silver bottle holders. The accused had registered himself at the hotel as an important functionary of the "Office of His Highness Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan" of the UAE government and gave a fake business card, the police said. Additionally, it was claimed that the accused also provided a UAE resident card on arrival at the hotel.

(With PTI inputs)