'Shrewd' Maria tough to crack: Police

VADODARA: Kannada actress Maria Susairaj, who was convicted in the brutal murder of TV executive Neeraj Grover in 2008, is proving quite a challenge for the crime branch to extract details about Rs 2.68 crore cheating case she has been named in.
Maria was arrested from Ahmedabad early on October 8 and was remanded to police custody for four days on Friday.
She and four others have been accused of cheating local travel agents by promising discounted tickets to pilgrims going to Umrah in Mecca earlier this year.
"She didn't reveal much during questioning and said that she doesn't remember her bank account number. Maria claims that she was in Mumbai and at her hometown in Mysore for last few months. She is very shrewd and is evading most questions," said a senior police official.
Investigation has revealed that Maria met Paromita Chakraborty, one of the accused in the fraud case, in Byculla jail after she was convicted for destruction of evidence in the brutal murder of TV executive Neeraj Grover in 2008. Crime branch officials said that Paromita too was lodged in the same jail in connection with other cheating case.
"Maria and Paromita met in jail and became friends. Paromita was arrested in a Rs 3.73 crore cheating case in 2011 and is a professional cheater. She made Maria her partner after they both got out of jail. Paromita used Maria's celebrity status to convince the travel agents for accepting their discounted air ticket offer," said crime branch sub-inspector, J B Karmur who had tracked Maria on Wednesday.
Investigators said that Maria and Paromita formed Parapan Travels with the help of Suraj Jaiswal, Henry Fernandez and Hanif Shaikh. "We will continue to question her to trace the money that Maria and her accomplices siphoned off after duping three travel agents from Vadodara. We will also try to ascertain whereabouts of the other accused and with whom did Maria stay over last few months," said crime branch inspector Rahul Patel.
Cops suspect that the accused have cheated many more persons and they may have invested the money in different places.
The accused contacted three travel agents in Vadodara and promised them air tickets for Umrah pilgrims at 25% discount last year.
Complainant Zaid Pasaliya had booked air tickets for 1,200 pilgrims at Rs 12,000 per ticket against actual fare of Rs 17,000 while other two agents had booked 300 tickets. When the agents reached Mumbai airport with the first lot of passengers, they learnt that the tickets have been cancelled. The accused cited technical problem and promised to return the money.
Maria's lawyer Shailesh Patel, however, told the court that she had neither promised any discounts as alleged nor done any transactions.
"Police investigations itself show that Paromita did all the dealings and money was credited to her bank account," he argued.