NEW DELHI: When 40-year-old businessman Harjinder Singh and his family landed in London, they had no idea of the harrowing ordeal that awaited them at Heathrow airport.

As soon as the four got off the plane, they were detained by the airport authorities. Singh was accused of cheating the airline by purchasing tickets using a stolen credit card.

A stunned Singh explained that he had paid Rs 2.4 lakh in cash to the travel agent, and had no idea how the agent had purchased the tickets.

The authorities were unmoved and confiscated the passports of the family. They threatened Singh that the entire family would be arrested unless he paid for four tickets all over again.

A frantic Singh called the travel agent, who apologized for the “confusion” and promised to reimburse the money once the family returned to India. However, that was of no help to the family in its predicament.

In desperation, Singh phoned his cousin, for whose wedding the family had travelled to London . The cousin put them in touch with a lawyer, who spoke to the authorities and advised the family to settle the matter by purchasing tickets afresh. The lawyer also asked for 2,000 pounds (almost Rs 2 lakh) as his legal fee.

By now, the Singhs had been detained at the airport for almost seven hours. Eager to end the family's misery, Singh agreed to purchase four tickets, and was told that he would have to pay Rs 3.6 lakh for spot purchases. So, he finally ended up shelling out Rs 5.6 lakh (Rs 3.6 lakh for the tickets and Rs 2 lakh for the lawyer's fee) over and above the Rs 2.4 lakh he had already shelled out.

But the family's troubles were still not over. When Singh returned to Delhi and approached the travel agent for reimbursement, the agent flatly refused to give him the money.

When he made repeated visits, the agent allegedly abused and threatened him. Finally, he approached the police and filed a first information report (FIR), a copy of which is in TOI's possession. The police told TOI that they have registered a fraud case and further investigations are underway.

