- A man in India checked into a five-star hotel for one night and ended up staying for 603 days.
- He left without paying his $70,000 bill, the hotel alleges.
- The hotel has filed a police complaint alleging fraud among its staff.
A man is accused of staying at a five-star hotel in India for nearly two years without paying a single cent, local Indian media reported on Thursday.
The guest, identified as Ankush Dutta, checked into Delhi’s Roseate House on May 30, 2019, and booked a room for one night, according to The Indian Express, which first reported the news. He kept extending his stay and left 603 days later on January 22, 2021 — without paying his bills, which amounted to 5.8 million Indian rupees, or over $70,700, the newspaper reported, citing a police complaint filed by the hotel’s board.
The hotel, located near Delhi’s main international airport, alleges its staff helped Dutta evade his dues by falsifying accounts.
The hotel wrote in the police complaint that staff “forged, deleted, added and falsified a large number of entries” in the guest’s account, per The Indian Express.
“The accounts were falsified to conceal the actual outstanding dues from the senior management to avoid detection of their willful illegal acts,” the hotel added in the complaint.
A senior police officer told The Indian Express that the hotel’s staff and Dutta “deleted entries, forged reports, gave forged cheques and documents, and cheated the hotel by misusing its electronic system” to avoid the bill payment.
The hotel alleges that “the large-scale forgeries and falsification of accounts of Dutta was to siphon off cash payments,” per the media outlet.
Police investigations are underway, the Indian Express reported.
Owned by India’s Bird Hospitality, the 216-room Roseate House opened in 2016 and bills itself as an upscale contemporary hotel. The hotel is home to several restaurants, a luxury spa, and a coworking space.
Rooms at Roseate House start at around 8,500 rupees a night.
No arrests have been made and a police investigation into Dutta and various hotel staffers is underway, per The Indian Express.
Roseate House did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Insider was not immediately able to reach Dutta for comment.