23.46 lakh fraudster arrested from Leela Palace

The Delhi Police has arrested a man from Karnataka who duped New Delhi's Leela Palace Hotel of Rs 23.46 lakh by pretending to be related to the UAE royal family. The accused, identified as Sharif, checked into the hotel on August 1 and stayed there till November 20. He ran away from the hotel without paying the bill.
The hotel staff said that Sharif had shown the business card of a UAE government official. He was told that he lives in the UAE and works in the office of Sheikh Falah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. He had also told the hotel staff that he was close to Sheikh and was in India on some official work.
He stayed in room number 427 of the hotel. Police registered a case on the complaint of the hotel management. The complaint said that the accused stole silverware and other valuables from the hotel room. Sharif had paid around Rs 11.5 lakh to stay in the hotel. However, he left without paying the balance amount on November 20 at around 1 pm.
After examining the documents and cards, the police said that Sharif's identity cards were not genuine and that he had no connection with the royal family of Abu Dhabi. A case was registered against the accused under sections 419, 420, and 380 of IPC. After this, the police formed a special team to nab him and on January 19, he was arrested and produced in court.