Consultant nabbed in police crackdown on illegal travel agents

Following the deportation of illegal Indian immigrants by US recently, the Punjab police have started tightening the noose around illegal immigration consultants here.

The NRI wing of Punjab police has arrested a fake immigration consultant, identified as Suraj Sathiali, a resident of Sathiali in Gurdaspur, in a four-month old case here on Wednesday.

He along with his accomplice, Bunti of Sathiali, was booked by police in October 2024 for allegedly duping Punjab Singh of Dullat village in Batala and his relative Daljit Singh of Indira Colony, Majitha road, Amritsar. The accused had assured to send them to Russia on work permit and visa. The deal was settled for Rs 2.80 lakh for sending the duo to Russia.

Police investigations revealed that the accused sent them visa and tickets on their mobile which were later found to be fake. He said when the accused failed to send them abroad, they demanded their money back. Out of the total amount, they returned Rs 80,000 to them but failed to return the remaining amount.

Investigations also found that they had duped another man Mahinder Ram of Rs 1.3 lakh on similar promise. They used to run their office, Kirpa Overseas, in Dhariwal area without requisite permission and licence from the district administration, the police official said.

JS Walia, AIG, NRI police wing, said that the Punjab government has started a campaign against illegal travel agents and immigration consultants who were defrauding innocent people wanting to go abroad in search of greener pastures.

He said the NRI police wing of Gurdaspur registered a case under section 406, 420, 465, 468, 471 and 34 of IPC and section 24 of Emigration Act against the two. He said raids were also on to arrest Bunty Sathiali.

On February 5, as many as 104 illegal Indian immigrants were deported back on a military aircraft by the US government after its crackdown on illegal immigrants there. The majority of deportees told the police that they were cheated by the illegal immigration consultants and travel agents who promised to take them to US on valid documents but took them through the illegal “dunki” route.