Delhi’s prestigious five-star hotel, Roseate House, has filed a complaint against a guest who allegedly colluded with hotel staff to stay for almost two years without making any payments. The hotel claims to have incurred a loss of ₹58 lakh during this period. The case has been lodged at the IGI Airport police station.
According to the recently filed FIR by Vinod Malhotra, the authorized representative of Bird Airports Hotel Private Limited, which operates Roseate House, the guest, Ankush Dutta, stayed for a total of 603 days, resulting in a cost of ₹58 lakh. However, Dutta checked out without settling his outstanding dues.
The FIR alleges that Prem Prakash, the head of the Front Office Department and authorized to determine room rates, allowed Dutta’s extended stay in violation of hotel norms. Prakash also had access to the hotel’s computer system, which tracks guest dues. The hotel management suspects that Prakash may have received cash from Dutta for manipulating the in-house software system.
The FIR states, “A criminal conspiracy was hatched by guest Mr Ankush Dutta along with some known and unknown hotel staff, including Mr Prem Prakash, with a motive to gain wrongfully and deprive the hotel of its rightful dues.” It further adds that the staff forged, deleted, and added entries in Dutta’s account in the hotel’s Opera software system.
According to the hotel’s records, Dutta initially checked in on May 30, 2019, for a one-night stay. However, he continuously extended his stay until January 22, 2021. The hotel’s norm requires any outstanding dues exceeding 72 hours to be reported to the CEO and Financial Controller. Prakash failed to notify them about Dutta’s pending payments.
The FIR reveals that Prakash did not create any outstanding payment reports between May 30, 2019, and October 25, 2019. Subsequently, when he did create the report, he manipulated it by combining pending bills from unrelated guests into a single bill, attempting to conceal Dutta’s outstanding dues.
The hotel alleges that Prakash utilized various methods to enable Dutta’s prolonged stay. He falsified accounts to indicate that other guests had paid for Dutta, which was later discovered to be fabricated. The FIR states, “The scrutiny of records revealed that they created several fake and false pending bills to benefit Ankush Dutta.”
In addition, the hotel discovered that Dutta issued three checks of ₹10 lakh, ₹7 lakh, and ₹20 lakh on different dates, all of which bounced. Prakash failed to inform the hotel management about the returned checks.
The hotel management is demanding strict legal action against the culprits, asserting that they have committed criminal offences, including breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and falsification of accounts. A preliminary inquiry conducted by the IGI police has found prima facie evidence of these offences, prompting further investigation into the matter.
(Inputs from PTI)
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