Delhi, India: Police are looking for a man who stayed at a five-star hotel in Delhi for four months while posing as a senior UAE royal family official. According to officials on Tuesday, he fled without paying bills worth more than Rs 23 lakh.

On August 1 of last year, the accused, Mahamed Shareef, had checked into the Leela Palace-New Delhi. They claim that on November 20, he left the hotel from room number 427.

According to police, in addition to defrauding the hotel of Rs 23.46 lakh in unpaid bills, he also fled with valuables, including silver bottle holders and a mother-of-pearl tray.

According to police, Shareef checked into the hotel by posing as a key employee of the “Office of His Highness Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan” of the UAE government and providing a fictitious business card. On his arrival at the hotel, he was also said to have presented a UAE resident card.

In its complaint, the hotel’s management stated, “It appears the guest deliberately gave these cards to create a false image and garner additional trust with the intent to cheat and deceive the hotel later.”

According to the statement, “The guest had also made a few partial settlements in the month of August and September 2022 worth 11.5 lakhs for room charges, the total outstanding still stands at Rs 23,48,413 against which he had issued a post-dated cheque worth Rs 20 lakhs due for November 21, 2022, which was duly submitted to our bank on September 22, 2022, but due to insufficient funds the cheque bounced.”

According to a senior police official, the man left the hotel with valuables on November 20 last year, around noon.

“This seems to be completely pre-planned since we were under the impression that the hotel will get the dues cleared through the cheque he had submitted by November 22, 2022,” the complainant stated.

This makes it abundantly clear that “Mr. Shareef had malicious intentions and a clear intent to deceive hotel authorities,” as stated in the statement. The complaint stated, “This is a clear case of theft, cheating, and fraud against The Leela Palace, New Delhi.”

The official stated that footage from the hotel’s inside and outside CCTV cameras is being examined to determine Shareef’s activities.

“To locate the accused man, multiple teams have been established. We are working to gather his personal information, but we have not yet been able to determine his occupation. He stated, “We have placed his phone number on surveillance to determine his last location.”