NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court on Thursday granted bail to the man who was arrested for allegedly staying at a five-star hotel in the city for about four months by posing as a functionary of the UAE royal family and ran off with an outstanding bill of over Rs 23 lakh.
Counsel of the accused, Mahamed Sharif, told the court that his client has already settled the outstanding bill and the complainant (hotel Leela) is also having no objection to his bail. Sharif was arrested on January 19 in Karnataka. Noting that the accused is in Judicial Custody since then and he is not required for any investigation purpose, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala said in the order that no useful purpose is going to be served by keeping him further in custody.
The court also said in the order that the accused shall not leave the country without prior permission of the court among other conditions and allowed his bail on furnishing a bond in the sum of Rs.50,000 with one surety in the like amount.
According to the hotel staff, Sharif was staying from August 1, 2022, and fled the hotel on November 20, 2022, with hotel valuables like silver bottle holders and also without settling his bills of amount Rs 23,46,413. Based on the complaint, Delhi Police registered an FIR on January 13 under sections 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), and 380 (Theft in dwelling house, etc) of the Indian Penal Code. As per the FIR, the accused man checked into the hotel with a fake business card and had impersonated an important functionary of the office of His Highness Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed AL Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates.
“He also gave a resident card of the United Arab Emirates on arrival. It seems the guest purposely gave these cards to create a false image and garner extra trust with an intent to cheat and deceive the hotel at a later stage,” the FIR read. According to the complainant hotel, “This seems to be completely pre-planned since we were under the impression that by November 22, 2022, the hotel will get the dues cleared through the cheque he had submitted”.