German tourist's adamance to recover her 1 lac leads her to the police

VISHAL SHARMA

AGRA, 29 JAN. Every year there are a number of cases of frauds committed against foreign tourists by Indian nationals, but this is probably the first time when a defrauded tourist has been adamantly camping in India for almost a year to recover the money and get the culprits punished for their deeds.

This interesting case of fraud surfaced last December in Agra when Elisabeth Kaulfuss, a resident of Koeln in Germany, complained before the Taj Ganj police in Agra that Raju Gupta, a local guide, had fraudulently obtained Rs. 1,43,000 from her in May 2004, in the name of constructing his house and was now refusing to return the money.

Following her complaint, when the police intervened, Raju agreed to return Rs. 55 thousand as the first installment and promised before the police to return the rest of the money along with Rs. 10 thousand as interest before Christmas, though he again turned away from his word, after which, Elisabeth again returned to Agra on Friday and tried to contact Raju, but in vain.

Frustrated and angry, she contacted the Police Station Taj Ganj, located just a minute’s walk from the Taj Mahal, only to find that the previous station officer had been changed and she had to explain her case again before a multitude of non-English speaking policemen gawking at her. Unable to get any response from the Taj Ganj police, Elisabeth contacted the Senior Superintendent of Police Agra, Rajiv Krishna, who ordered the Taj Ganj police to take the necessary action.

After filing her formal complaint before the police, Elisabeth said that she has been visiting India since November 2002 on different Visas and had met Raju early 2004 in Kerala, while staying in the same guesthouse. They again met in Ujjain during the Kumbh Mela in April after which they became close friends and dated often during her stay in Ujjain.

In May 2004, Elisabeth came to Agra to meet Raju, where he allegedly borrowed Rs. 1.43 lacs from her in the name of constructing his house, promising to return the money within two months, which of course, he didn’t, forcing her to return to Agra for the money.

A shoe – string traveler, Elisabeth said that she had planned to stay on in India for the rest of the year after renewing her Visa but though Raju returned a part of the money under police pressure, she had already borrowed a huge amount of money from her friend Aslam in Kashmir and under significant debt now, she was unable to continue her stay and would have to return home in May.

She alleged that Raju, along with his friends Haji and others, was threatening her to accept another 50 thousand and forget the case, stalking her wherever she went and even beating up her friend Aslam, who had accompanied her to Agra from Kashmir.

Elisabeth said that she is willing to stay on in India till her Visa expires to see Raju rot in jail if he doesn’t return the money. Citing German laws, she said that if it had been her country, Raju would have remained in jail till he returned the money, but since the Indian law dictates that if Raju is jailed for not returning the money, she would never see her money again, she preferred that Raju returned the money instead of going to jail so that she could pay back her debt and continue her travels.

Meanwhile, the Taj Ganj police has filed an FIR against Raju under section 420, 406 & 506 I.P.C. The Agra SSP Rajiv Krishna said that the case amounts to a simple breach of trust and the law shall take its own course. He said that Raju shall be arrested soon and since the matter had now assumed legality after the FIR, only the Court could decide if Raju would return the money or not.

(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)


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