14 months after man goes missing in Panama, father hopes for his return

As a third batch of US deportees arrived at the Amritsar airport on February 16, Joginder Singh (60) started looking frantically for his young son from among those sent back from that country.

But his desperate search for his only son gave way to despair once again.

This was the third occasion in the past fortnight when the Pathankot resident had gone to the airport with the hope of finding his son Jagmeet Singh among those expatriated.

He got hold of as many as deportees as he could, asking them if they had seen his son, with whom he had last talked over the phone 14 months ago.

Since then, he has been continuously paying visits to politicians and police officers, believing that he is still stranded in Panama jungles.

“Sometimes, against all odds, against all logic, we still hope. This hope keeps me alive,” said the father.

Joginder said his son had completed MBA when he was told by scheming travel agents that those who go to America return with millions of dollars in their bank accounts.“I told him to start some business here. But who can stop a youngster who has set his eyes on something?” he said .

Joginder said he had paid a travel agent Rs 15 lakh for his son’s trip to the US. Before Jagmeet left home for that country, the father had stuffed $5,000 in cash in his pocket.

The boy left Pathankot in the first week of November. A few days later, he called from Delhi and said he was set to board a direct flight to New York. Against the promise, the travel agent took Jagmeet to Guyana, where his trials and tribulations started.

On December 19, 2023, Jagmeet made a call, which turned out to be his last one, to his father.

“He was somewhere in the jungles of Panama and then the call disconnected,” Joginder said, adding that all his subsequent attempts to connect with his son came to a naught after that.

The police, after studying the digital footprints — a unique trail of data that a person leaves behind while using the internet — confirmed that he was in Darien Gap, a treacherous jungle full of snakes and swamps.

The police believe the worst has happened but the father is simply not willing to accept this, clinging to the hope of meeting his son again.

Joginder says, “The travel agent (who sent his son to the US trip) is in the Gurdaspur jail after I got an FIR registered against him. However, for some inexplicable reason, the police excluded his wife’s name from the FIR. She too is involved.”

“The sun never stops shining. Sometimes, it happens that clouds get in its way,” he added.

SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon said the investigation is continuing. “We are doing everything to bring him back,” he added.