Jammu: Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a fake Vaishno Devi online helicopter ticket booking fraud by arresting three persons from Bihar.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Reasi, Amit Gupta said that a case was registered at Police Station Katra on the basis of complaints regarding fake online helicopter ticket booking fraud for Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage.
After registration of cases, special teams were framed under the supervision of Amit Bhasin, SP Katra and were dispatched to various parts of the country for the arrest of the accused persons involved in the commission of crime, he said.
The officer added that a team headed by Kuljeet Singh, SDPO Katra, zeroed in on some places in Bihar State and subsequently raided at various locations and succeeded in nabbing three fraudsters from Bahadurpur area in District Khagaria, Bihar.
The arrested fraudsters were identified as Ashok Mistri, Santosh Kumar and Lakhpati Paswan while incriminating material was also seized in their possession.
All the accused persons were brought to Katra after obtaining transit remand from competent court and during the investigation, 40 fake websites were identified and got blocked, which were involved in selling of fake helicopter tickets to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims.
The SSP has advised all the pilgrims to use only the official website of the SMVD Shrine Board for booking services such as helicopter tickets and not to fall prey to the fraudulent advertisements issued by unauthorized websites offering confirmed Helicopter tickets, sale of Prasad etc.