Canadian dream ends in despair as Nurmahal youth ‘duped’ of Rs5.6 lakh

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 14

With a dream to go to Canada and earn well for his family, Gurpreet Singh (22) of Nurmahal took IELTS exam for a number of times. Determined Gurpreet finally managed to clear it two years ago.

Thereafter, his family quest was to find a travel agent, who could help Gurpreet go abroad on a study visa.

Now, two years have passed, but Gurpreet is still here. The family took the help of a Ludhiana-based travel agent, but the latter is accused of duping it of Rs5.6 lakh. According to the family, the travel agent had taken the amount on the pretext of sending Gurpreet abroad.

The family said the accused had not returned Gurpreet’s passport as well.

Talking to The Tribune, Gurpreet said he wanted to go to Canada on a study visa. “We had given more than Rs9 lakh to the travel agent, but he duped us.”

Lal Singh Lally, paternal uncle of Gurpreet, said, “The travel agent had asked us to send Gurpreet on a work visa. He informed us to pay a total of Rs17 lakh. Initially, the agent told us to give Rs60,000 with the passport. After that, he said Gurpreet got the visa and we gave him Rs8.5 lakh.”

“After sometime, we called him up to tell him that visa was fake. The agent returned Rs3.5 lakh, but the remaining amount and the passport are yet to be returned,” he said.

Gurpreet’s father is in England and he has been supporting the family financially. “He has not come home for the past 11 years to make both ends meet. He had thought that if Gurpreet reaches Canada, he would come home to meet his family. Now, after this, he will have to wait for some more time,” Lally added.

Crestfallen Gurpreet is left with no other option but to carry on farming.

The police have registered a case under Sections 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of IPC and Travel Professional Regulation Act, 2014.

“We are holding an inquiry. We will look all aspects of it,” the police said.