WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 8 EXPRESS NETWORK THE INDIAN EXPRESS,TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019 Belgian tourist duped by men posing as cops, travel agents in Delhi ANAND MOHAN J NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 4 A TRIP to Delhi took a harrow- ing turn for a Belgian woman, who was allegedly harassed and duped by men posing as police officers, an autorickshaw driver, a travel agency and hotel authorities — all in a span of 24 hours. The woman, Esther Deleu, arrived in the capital on December 6 and took an auto to her hotel, said police. When she reached Minto Road, the driver allegedly took her to a parking lot where two men, claiming to be police officers, were waiting. “They told me there were demonstrations taking place near my hotel and the entire street was cordoned off. They said I needed permission from police to get into the hotel,” Deleu’s complaint read. The woman said she was handed a piece of paper with the address of a ‘police centre’ on it. She was taken there, and six men in police uniforms “showed her videos of protests on their mobile phones”, she al- leged. “They told me to leave Delhi. They also spotted my gold jew- ellery and told me that I should take it off as it will cut my fin- gers,” the complaint read. When she told them about her reservation at the hotel, they made a call and told her it had been cancelled. The woman, police said, was then taken to a travel agency in another autorickshaw, where she met two men who offered her cake and water. They told her about other, more expen- sive hotels. As per the com- plaint, after five hours, the woman accepted a hotel offer for 40 dollars. She alleged that she was then taken on a “long trek” to the hotel, and was given a room with no windows or in- ternet connectivity. “I locked myself inside the room as people knocked on the door. I was paralysed. My SIM activated and I contacted my friend in Rishikesh, who called the hotel where I was supposed to stay and discov- ered that my booking was never cancelled. Several peo- ple started knocking at my door and I barricaded myself. Finally, the manager of the ho- tel came to get me,” the com- plaint read. DeleU then took the first flight back to Belgium and, al- most two months later, mus- tered the courage to report the matter to Belgium authorities, who informed the Ministry of External Affairs (Europe west) division and the Delhi Police Commissioner. Police have now registered a case under Section 4-(a) of the Delhi Prevention of Touting and Malpractices against Tourists Act at Connaught Place. Sunanda Pushkar death case sent to Sessions court PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 4 A DELHI court Monday sent Sunanda Pushkar's death case against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor to Sessions court for further proceedings. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal sent the case to Additional Sessions Judge Arun Bhardwaj, since the of- fence under Section 306 (abet- ment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code was triable by a sessions judge. The court also directed Delhi police to preserve vigi- lance report in the matter. The maximum punish- ment for the offence is 10 years of imprisonment. Tharoor, former Union minister and Pushkar's hus- band, has been charged under sections 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but has not been arrested in the case. Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in the capital on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple were stay- ing in the hotel as the official bungalow of Tharoor was be- ing renovated at that time..