BENGALURU: In a bid to fleece flyers at Bengaluru airport, a 27-year-old conman cooked up a sob story about an ailing father in the hospital and went around soliciting money from passengers on Saturday night. However, a few flyers became suspicious and he landed behind bars.
Following complaints, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) took Vignesh from Chennai into custody and the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) police booked a case under Section 420 against him on Sunday.
According to CISF sources, Vignesh was caught red-handed around 7.30 pm on Saturday following an alert from flyers. “We found 26 credit cards in his wallet. Of them, 24 were valid. To appear as if he was a genuine passenger, he had booked a flight to Chennai to enter the airport. Later, he went around asking people for money ranging between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 for emergency medical reasons for his hospitalised father.”
A top source said that it appeared that he was part of a gang in which a few others could be involved. “This kind of activity inside an airport is rare. A similar one was reported at Bengaluru airport over two years ago. Something similar happened in Mumbai airport recently,” he said.