Man held for duping youth of Rs 48 lakh for sending him to US illegally

Hisar Police have arrested a man accused of duping a youth, Sandeep, of Rs 48 lakh after allegedly sending him to the US via the illegal “donkey route”. Sandeep was later deported by the US authorities, following which his uncle lodged a complaint, leading to the arrest of the accused, identified as Dilbag Singh of Kaithal.

The police said Dilbag Singh had allegedly taken Rs 48 lakh from Sandeep Singh on the pretext of sending him abroad. Terming it a case of ‘kabootarbazi’, a police spokesperson said the accused had even issued threats to Sandeep when he demanded his money back.

An FIR was registered at Barwala police station based on a complaint by Virbhan, a resident of Panghal and uncle of the victim. The complainant alleged that Dilbag Singh and his agent, identified as Vishal, lured his nephew with the promise of sending him to the US and collected the money in instalments over a period of time.

During the probe, it was found that Dilbag and Vishal had illegally routed Sandeep from India to Africa, then to Brazil, and further to San Salvador on a tourist visa, from where he was smuggled into the US. He was later deported back to India.

Acting on the complaint and investigation, the police arrested Dilbag Singh and produced him before a court, which sent him to two-day police remand. Officials said he was being interrogated to identify others involved in the racket facilitating illegal immigration via the donkey route.

According to available information, a total of 658 persons from Haryana have been deported from the US this year so far, and several have filed FIRs alleging they were cheated by unscrupulous travel agents who charged hefty amounts to send them abroad illegally.