Three passengers were arrested at Calcutta airport on Saturday evening and Sunday morning on charges of using someone else’s credit card to buy air tickets.

Somnath Sadhukhan, a businessman from Behala, had lodged a complaint with airport police station on Saturday evening that three air tickets were fraudulently purchased against his credit card number.

“I got an SMS intimation at 11.54am on Saturday that two Air Deccan tickets to Delhi, costing Rs 5,498, were purchased over the Internet against my card. As I was busy, I read the message around 2pm,” recounted Sadhukhan.

The shocker in the message inbox triggered an immediate response and he contacted the bank’s customer service personnel, requesting them to block the card. He then contacted a travel agent friend, who put him on to Air Deccan officials. Armed with the PNR numbers and the name of the fliers — provided by the airline — he set off for the police station.

On the way, his cellphone beeped again. “It was a message from the bank informing me that a return ticket to Bhubaneswar, for Rs 5,115, was purchased against my credit card,” said Sadhukhan, who collected the ticket details from the airline. With these details, Sadhukhan filed a complaint.

Before Indrajit Roy, a resident of Tiljala Road, and S.K. Sahid of Rifle Range Road, could board the 7pm Calcutta-Delhi Air Deccan flight, the cops arrested the duo. They were produced at the Barrackpore sub-divisional judicial magistrate’s court and given five days of police custody.

On Sunday morning, the third passenger — Javed Akhtar Khan, a resident of Ghas Bagan, in Park Circus — was picked up as he was about to board the Calcutta-Bhubaneswar flight of the same airline.

According to the police, all three passengers pleaded innocence and said they bought the tickets from a travel agent — Imran Khan — in the Karaya area. The police picked up Khan on Sunday evening. During initial interrogation, he tried to pass the buck. “He told us he bought the tickets from another agent. We are probing the case,” said an airport police station official.