2 Lankans rescued from kidnappers

The Amritsar police have arrested two fake visa agents for allegedly kidnapping two Sri Lankan nationals who had arrived here hoping to secure work visas to Albania, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.

The police said the two, who were part of a group of six Sri Lankan nationals, were kidnapped on December 29 and rescued the next day.

The accused — identified as Ankit (22), a resident of Kapurthala, and Inderjit Singh (23) of Chandpur in Jalandhar Rural — had promised to arrange work visas for them. Ankit recently returned from Italy.

The victims, Kanishka and Sumardhan, were rescued from Hoshiarpur, hours after the incident was reported to the city police.

The police said the group had come to India on valid travel visas. They were introduced to the fake visa agents by a Sri Lankan national, whom they met in Delhi.

The accused took $3,000 from them in exchange of arranging work visas of the European country.

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said on December 27, the accused told Kanishka and Sumardhan over the phone that they have procured their work visas and called them to Amritsar, from where they were supposed to board a flight to Albania.

He said all six Sri Lankan nationals arrived in Amritsar on December 29.

The accused picked Kanishka and Sumardhan from the bus stand in a car. Next morning, they made a video call to the other victims and threatened to eliminate the two. They demanded 8,000 euros for their release.

“The accused were arrested on Tuesday,” Bhullar said, adding that Inderjit had three cases registered against him under the Arms Act and the NDPS Act.