A man allegedly stayed at a hotel for free in Haryana’s Gurugram for nearly five months, and arranged a cover-up for the same by sending screenshots of ‘fake payments’ amounting to a whopping ₹6 lakhs to the hotel operator.
The accused, 26-year-old Himanshu, who was arrested on Wednesday, had incurred a bill of ₹6.17 lakhs, PTI news agency reported quoting police officials as saying.
He admitted that he came across a YouTube video about a fake application, which showed how one could fake online payments on the platform and make them appear as an exact dummy, as if money had actually been credited to the receiver.
“He installed the fake application in which only the scanner works, while all other features are inactive,” a Gurugram police spokesperson said.
Himashu, who hails from Haryana’s Sohna, holds a postgraduate degree in computer applications and was working to promote a YouTube channel on an app.
What had happened?
The accused has been staying at the accommodation at Gurugram’s Golf Course Road in DLF Phase 5 since October 2025, and till February 2026 he made 16 payments to the operator as charges for his stay, sharing screenshots of each payment via WhatsApp.
The hotel authorities alleged these payments were fraudulent.
Upon checking latest bank statements, the operator came to know that no money had been credited in the account. He subsequently registered an FIR at Gurugram’s Sector 53 police station, which led to the arrest of the accused.
“When we checked our firm’s bank account, we found that no payment had been received. Himanshu was asked for his bank statement, but he refused to provide it and left the hotel on February 24,” hotel operator Tapish Kumar said in his police complaint according to the PTI report.
He was arrested on Wednesday, following which his mobile phone was confiscated. He was produced in a city court on Thursday and then sent to judicial custody.
Further investigation is currently underway.