Fake travel agents’ gang busted; three arrested

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 15

The city police today busted a gang of fake travel agents, who had duped over 71 persons in the past two years, and arrested three of its members.

While giving details about the modus operandi of the gang, ACP (Central) Manpreet Singh Dhillon said the kingpin of the gang, Pandya, a resident of Malaysia, had opened a fake firm in Kuala Lumpur and was duping people on the pretext of providing them jobs in the company.

“He had come to Punjab in 2015 and had formed a gang of four persons and placed them in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Moga to get clients. Soon his business flourished and they began to charge up to Rs 75,000 from each of the aspirants,” Dhillon said.

The ACP (Central) said Pandya came to India on February 3 and was staying with his friend Ramandeep, alias Babbu. The police after receiving information raided the spot and arrested Pandya, along with his other three accomplices.

The three arrested accused were identified as Darshan Singh, a resident of Amritsar, and Satnam Singh and Ramandeep Singh, alias Babbu, of Jalandhar.

The police also recovered five passports, a laptop, a mobile phone, Rs 17,670 in cash, 55 Malaysian ringgit and two Singapore dollars from Pandya. Five passports from Darshan Singh and three passports from Babbu were also seized.

Though the gang has received over Rs 70,000 from each of the 71 aspirants, it has not provided even a single visa to any of them.

The police have registered a case under Sections 406, 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 and 120-B of the IPC. A case was also registered against Sandeep Singh, a resident of Moga, and Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Hoshiarpur, who too were part of the gang and at present staying in Malaysia.