The management of a hotel has accused Ankush Dutta of fraud after he stayed at a five-star hotel in Delhi for nearly two years without paying his bill.
The Roseate House hotel, which is close to the airport, filed a complaint against Dutta and a few of his employees for allegedly working together to avoid paying him.
On May 30, 2019, Dutta checked in to the hotel with plans to leave the following day.
However, he continued to stay for an astounding 603 additional nights before departing on January 22, 2021. He accumulated unpaid bills totaling more than N57 million during his stay.
The hotel’s management claimed that Dutta and the staff plotted to conceal his escalating bills by altering accounts and erasing entries.
Hotel rules dictated that if a guest owed more than N300,000, the staff should inform senior management to pursue payment. However, it is believed that this rule was violated by the staff involved.
Additionally, the hotel claimed that Dutta provided fake receipts and three cheques that were unable to be cashed.
The police complaint stated that Dutta and the hotel staff resorted to various methods to avoid paying the bills, including deleting entries, forging reports, providing counterfeit cheques and documents, and exploiting the hotel’s electronic system.
The police complaint read: “The guest and the staffers resorted to several ways to avoid paying bills. They owe more than Rs 58 lakh to the hotel. They deleted entries, forged reports, gave forged cheques and documents, and cheated the hotel by misusing its electronic system.”
As a result, a case was registered against Dutta and several hotel employees, including the head of the hotel’s front office department, Prem Prakash, on charges of conspiracy, forgery, and cheating.
The police suspect that Prakash forged the records and deliberately omitted Dutta’s name from daily reports that detailed his hotel bills.
“We believe Prakash forged the records. He even removed Dutta’s names from daily reports where his hotel bills were stated.” He said.
Efforts are currently underway to locate Dutta, who is believed to have defrauded multiple other hotels in India.
The Roseate House hotel, known for its luxury accommodations, offers rooms starting from N80,000 per night.