Robbed Dutch National Stranded In Puri For 2 Months Returns With Odisha Govt’s Help

Puri: An elderly tourist from the Netherlands, who was stranded in Puri for about two months after allegedly being robbed of all cash by a cab driver, is finally returning home with the help of the Odisha government.

He had sought the state government’s help to return to his country after he was robbed. While the accused cab driver was arrested, arrangements were made by the district administration for the elderly man’s journey to Nagpur from where his flight ticket to the Netherlands was scheduled for Friday.

As per reports, accused driver Sagar Mallick was nabbed by a team of Puri Police from outside the state. He was arrested and forwarded to court after the victim Anthony Von Arkel (72) identified him in the Test Identification Parade.

Following the arrest of the accused,  the district administration made arrangements for Anthony’s return. A team of Tourism and Sports officials accompanied him for boarding the flight from Bhubaneswar to Nagpur on Thursday.

Anthony was stranded for around two months in the seaside pilgrim town after he was looted of all money. He was even hoodwinked by the accused into proceeding to Delhi instead of Mumbai on the pretext of reclaiming his lost items and money.

In his appeal to the government, Anthony stated that while his tickets to Nagpur-Qatar-Netherlands has been done for March 15, he has no money to go to Nagpur from Puri.

As per reports, Anthony landed in Bhubaneswar for an Odisha tour on December 18. He then hired a cab and toured Jajpur, Taptapani, Gopalpur and Chilika before arriving at Puri on January 9. The next day, as he needed cash and had to convert the foreign currency, he booked a cab and went to Bhubaneswar. After getting the foreign exchange worth Rs 3.87 lakh done, he took the same cab to visit Bhitarkanika and Similipal.

However, when they were near Chandbali, Anthony got down to relieve himself. To his utter shock, he found the bag containing cash empty when he returned.