13 held in 24 hours as Chandigarh Police bust illegal immigration rackets

In a crackdown on unauthorised immigration consultancies, the Chandigarh Police on Tuesday registered 20 FIRs and arrested 13 individuals operating without valid registration in violation of the orders of the District Magistrate.

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The city-wide operation focused on unregistered immigration offices functioning from commercial premises in Sectors 3, 7, 8, 9, 17, 22, 34, 35, and 40. Offenders were booked primarily under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and in several cases, under the Immigration Act, 1983. All arrested individuals were later granted bail, while investigations are ongoing in each case.

Police Station Sector-3 led the crackdown with five arrests and five FIRs. Those arrested included Sagar (22) of Karnal, Anil Beniwal (45) of Panchkula, Lovepreet Singh (23) of Patiala, Upender Singh (39) of Chandigarh, and Baljinder Singh (43) of Adarsh Nadar, Nayagaon, Punjab. Notably, Baljinder Singh was additionally charged under Section 24 of the Immigration Act.

Six FIRs were registered at Police Station Sector-17, resulting in three arrests of Gurjinder Singh (28) from Fazilka, Himanshu Tiwari (29) from Chandigarh and Honey Tandon (30) from Ludhiana. Police Station Sector-26 on the other hand saw the registration of two FIRs and two arrests—Ashish (40) from Panchkula and Amanpreet Singh (32) from Yamuna Nagar, both operating in cabins of a building without approval from Sector 7/C locations.

Police Station Sector-34 registered three FIRs, but no arrests were made as of the latest reports. The accused—Amit Mangal, Keshav Kumar, and Vishal Sharma—are under investigation for running unauthorised offices from Sector 34.

Besudes, Police Station Sector-36 recorded three FIRs, leading to two arrests: Pardeep Beniwal (41) of Mohali and Prashant Verma (25) of Chandigarh.

The third FIR, against Digish Narang (41) from Ludhiana, is under investigation. Police Station Sector-39 registered one FIR and made one arrest—Robin Sharma (37) of Kharar, operating from Sector 40/C.

A senior police official said the arrests were a part of a focused campaign to eliminate illegal immigration consultancies that mislead the public with false promises. “We urge the public to verify credentials before engaging with any immigration service provider. These operations will continue to safeguard citizens from fraud,” the official added.