Ludhiana, November 15
The ‘desi-kabootari’ emigration racket, involving locals, has attained international colour, with the name of two Canadian residents figuring in the police investigation. Two Canadian women of Indian origin had allegedly sold emmigration documents to gang members, who got several “original-like” copies made from a photo studio in Jalandhar and duped 11 youths in the multi-crore racket.

The Jagroan police has sought help from the Canadian Government to verify the involvement of the two women, identified as Paramjit Kaur and Nachattar Kaur of British Columbia province in Canada. The police may soon initiate expatriation proceedings against the two women.

The role of the two women came to the fore after the arrest of two Jagraon residents — Gaggi and Rampal — in the racket by the Jagraon police today. The former had issued fake marriage certificates while the latter had got copies of the emmigration documents made allegedly with the help of Jalandhar-based photographer Shiv Gemini.

According to a statement made to the police, Rampal had bought the original documents at a price of Rs 30,000 from Paramjit and Rs 20,000 from Nachattar Kaur. The documents of both women had, interestingly , expired. The Canadian Embassy had put a stamp on the back of the papers that these were not valid anymore.

Rampal, talking to The Tribune at Jagraon today, reiterated the statement made to the police that he had bought the documents from the Canadian women. Asked if the women knew that the documents could be misused, he said they were not bothered as they were getting money for papers useless for them.

Jagraon SSP Mukhwinder Singh Chhina and the main investigating officer, DSP Jatinder Singh Khaira confirmed to The Tribune the involvement of the two Canadian women. Both women are permanent residents of Canada.

Gaggi and Rampal were at large for the past four days, but were arrested by the police in a raid at one of their hideouts. The police said the role of the two women was important as the racket began from the documents only.

They said the Jagraon police had written to the Canadian Embassy, suggesting that the expired documents should not be returned to the bearers as these could be misused. The police officials said they were briefing the embassy about the racket as it had assumed an international angle now.