Punjab: Youth stuck in US detention centre from 6 months, 'I paid Rs 25 lakh to agents', says father; 5 booked

The amount also involved the cost of being released from the detention centre.   |  Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Chandigarh: The Punjab police have booked five travel agents and arrested one after a 21-year-old man has been stuck at the immigration detention centre near the USA border for the past six months. The travel agents allegedly sent him to the US illegally. 

According to a report in the Hindustan Times (HT), the accused were identified as Jass of Raipur Araian, Sodhi of Akbarpur village, Gugu of Akbarpur, Kulwinder Singh and his sister-in-law, of Dasuya, Hoshiarpur. The victim’s father, Sukhdev Singh of Dhayalpur village lodged a police complaint and mentioned that he had paid Rs 25 lakh to the travel agents, who had assured to send his son to the USA via Mexico.

Meanwhile, the victim was identified as Tarlok. The HT report further mentioned that in July 2018, Sukhdev's son was detained at the immigrant detention centre near the US border while trying to enter the country via Mexico. The procedure was illegal.

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The complainant further added that the travel agents demanded Rs 17 lakh for filling a bond. The amount also involved the cost of being released from the detention centre. Meanwhile, in January the complainant paid the amount but they haven't paid the amount to the authorities. And complainant's son is still stuck there.

However, the Deputy superintendent of police Bholath Davinder Singh told HT that a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 370 (exploitation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13 of the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, 2012, has been registered. The case has been registered against the five accused while one of the accused was arrested on Saturday.

The arrested accused was identified as Sondhi and the other accused will be arrested soon, added police.