5 more FIRs against brother-sister travel agent duo

After the Ludhiana police exposed a travel fraud racket being run by a brother-sister duo and arrested them along with Rs 1.07 crore illegal money amassed allegedly from foreign aspirants, five more FIRs have been registered by the police against the suspects.

Some more complaints have also been received by the police against the agents and a probe into the same might lead to registration of more FIRs in coming days, the police said.

On September 6, the police had arrested the suspects, Amit Malhotra (39) and his sister Veenu Malhotra (38), residents of Phase 1, Dugri, and owner of Global Way Immigration, situated in Model Town. They had duped a woman police officer from Mohali, who is part of the Chief Minister security team and following her complaint, the police had recently registered a case against the duo.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Civil Lines, Jatin Bansal, told The Tribune that five more FIRs were registered against the agents at the Model Town police station and the total count had reached six. These cases were registered on the complaint of complainants from Amritsar, Faridkot, Ludhiana and even Haryana. The duo had taken over Rs 55 lakh from the five complainants on the pretext of sending them to different countries but after taking the money, they failed to arrange visa and also refused to return the money. Of the five FIRs, the name of Karun Kumar, office employee of the agents, was also added to two cases.

“Now, the police are scanning bank accounts of the suspects. Even properties of the agents, if made from the illegal proceeds, will also be attached by following the due procedure,” Bansal said.

On August 12, protesting against the firm of the suspects, a couple, Hardeep Singh and Amandeep Kaur, from Dhuri in Sangrur had climbed atop a water tank at Model Town Extension here as the duo was also duped of Rs 10 lakh on the pretext of arranging visa to the UK.