Travel agents exchange fire after dispute over Rs 44-L commission

KAPURTHALA: The desperation among greedy and illegal travel agents has reached such a level that two groups of agents today clashed with each other, exchanged fire and one of them even managed to escape with the Rs 44 lakh commission amount that had been levied from two youths desirous of going to Canada.

The SUV that got damaged during the firing incident in Kapurthala on Monday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, July 22

The desperation among greedy and illegal travel agents has reached such a level that two groups of agents today clashed with each other, exchanged fire and one of them even managed to escape with the Rs 44 lakh commission amount that had been levied from two youths desirous of going to Canada.

The incident occurred around 3 pm today near Hamira in Kapurthala, situated on the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway. The Kapurthala police have managed to arrest one of the main suspects in the case, Simranjit Singh Prince, and are on a lookout to trace the others. Seven to eight persons, who represented the two groups of agents, were reportedly sitting in a SUV to settle the dispute over the commission amount when the firing took place. Three to four fires were shot by either sides but only one of them suffered a minor injury on the tip of the finger.

SSP Satinder Singh, SP (Narcotics) Manpreet S Dhillon, SP D Harpreet Mander, Bholath DSP Surinder Chand, CIA in-charge Balwinder Pal Singh and Subhanpur SHO Shivkanwal Singh reached the spot.

The police managed to arrest the main suspect with his licensed pistol. Prince hails from Cheharta, Amritsar, and he was engaged in sending Punjabis illegally abroad through Delhi-based agents.

He reportedly told the police that his sub-agent Gurbaz Singh put forth the cases of two youths for sending them to Canada. The deal was settled for Rs 44 lakh.

Delhi-based agents Satish Kumar, Mohan, Sunny and Arun had called him to a hotel room for sharing the commission over which a dispute got ensued.

Prince said the Delhi-based agents were asking for the payment of the entire commission amount to them and in the process, they managed to snatch Rs 44 lakh from him.

Jaspal Singh, who wanted to send his nephew to Canada, and Gurbaz Singh, who was pushing the case of his son, had paid Rs 22 lakh each.

An FIR has been registered at the Subhanpur police station under Sections 307 and 394 of the IPC and relevant sections of the Arms Act.