Man fails to pay $70,000 bill after two-year stay at upmarket Delhi hotel

Guest allegedly arrived in May 2019 for one night, but extended his stay until January 2021

The Roseate House is an upmarket hotel near the international airport in Aerocity, New Delhi. Photo: Roseate House Hotel

A five-star hotel in Indian capital New Delhi has filed a police complaint against a guest who stayed for nearly two years but checked out without paying a bill of 5.8 million rupees ($70,000).

Roseate House, near the international airport in Aerocity, has lodged a case against Ankush Dutta and hotel members of staff after he stayed for more than 600 days without making a payment.

The hotel alleges it incurred a loss of 5.8 million rupees due to collusion between Mr Dutta and front office head Prem Prakash.

Mr Prakash is accused of extending Mr Dutta's stay and may have received cash for manipulating the hotel's internal software system, media reports said.

The system tracks guest stays and financial accounts.

“A criminal conspiracy was hatched by guest Ankush Dutta along with some known and unknown hotel staff, including Prem Prakash, with a motive to gain wrongfully and deprive the hotel of its rightful dues,” said the police report.

The report said Mr Prakash forged an outstanding payment report by combining unrelated guests' bills to hide Mr Dutta's dues.

Hotel staff “forged, deleted, added account entries and falsified a large number of entries” in Mr Dutta's account, it added.

Mr Dutta allegedly checked in at the posh hotel in May 2019 for one night, but extended his stay until January 2021.

Hotel policy requires the chief executive to be notified if a guest's dues exceed 72 hours, which Mr Prakash allegedly failed to do.

Mr Dutta hand over three cheques of one million rupees, 700,000 rupees and two million rupees on different dates, all of which bounced.

The hotel says the offenders committed “criminal offences, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts”.

In January, Delhi police arrested a man who pretended to be an employee of a prominent UAE family and stayed at the luxury Leela Palace hotel for four months before fleeing without paying the $28,000 bill.

Authorities said the man they arrested Mohammed Sharif, 41, who previously worked with a wealthy family in the UAE for nearly 10 years and was attracted by the luxurious lifestyle, developing a taste for designer shoes, cars and clothes.