Punjab Police Book Ambala Travel Agents For ₹45 Lakh Fraud In US Immigration Scam

Chandigarh: Punjab police on Tuesday registered a case against two Ambala Cantonment-based travel agents on a complaint filed by a Mohali youth who accused them of taking Rs 45 lakh from him promising to send him to US by flight and arrange a job for him there, but, sent to Mexico from where he was illegally sent to US.

The complainant Tarandeep Singh, who was deported from US recently, accused two travel agents, namely Gurjinder Antal and Mukul, both residents of Ambala Cantt, of taking Rs 45 lakh from him promising to send him to US for work. Singh claimed that when he was stranded in Columbia for four months and requested them that he wanted to return to India, the agents allegedly told him that returning was not an option.

Police said that the victim was introduced to the agents by a friend who said they would legally send him to the US by flight and get him a job there because of their connections there. Singh who gave them his passport on July 10, 2024, held that his family paid them Rs 18 lakh when he reached Colombia.

However, he remained stranded there for over four months before he was sent to Mexico when the agents were given the remaining amount by his family. When his family members also learnt about the hardships he was undergoing and asked the agents for his return to India, they told them too that returning was impossible.

Alleging that he was subjected to severe hardships during the journey, denied food and water for days and was sent to the US by illegally crossing the border, Singh told police that the agents had promised to send him via flight and cruises.

It may be recalled that the special investigation team (SIT) of Punjab police constituted to probe all the cases involving persons recently deported from US, has so far registered 11 FIRs in Punjab and arrested one agent. While Haryana police has also arrested one travel agent, identified as Gurjant Singh from Ambala city, the Punjab police has nabbed one accused travel agent Anil Batra from Patiala.

The US government has so far deported 332 illegal immigrants most of whom are from Punjab and Haryana; While 112 illegal immigrants were deported by the US in its third flight on Sunday night, there were 116 illegal immigrants in the second flight on February 15 and 104 illegal immigrants in its first flight on February 5, last.