Police stumble on immigration racket

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, April 12

Complaints by an immigration firm owner and his woman manager against each other for defrauding clients led the police to uncover an immigration racket in which a large number of people in search of greener pastures on foreign shores lost their hard-earned money.

The police booked Harpreet Singh, owner of the immigration firm and his manager Dilpreet Kaur, under Section 420 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 13 of Punjab Travel Professionals (Regulation) Act. No arrest has, however, been made so far.

Further probe in the case has been marked to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) by the police.

The case was registered following investigations carried out by the then Assistant Commissioner of Police (East) Gurpartap Singh Sahota.

The police received several complaints against the accused firm from July 2022 to September 2022. During the probe, Harpreet Singh and Dilpreet Kaur blamed each other for defrauding the clients. After seeking legal opinion from the District Attorney (DA), the police registered an FIR at Division A police station on April 9.

According to the FIR, Harjinder Singh of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar near Mall Mandi was defrauded of Rs 10 lakh. Similarly, Jaswinder Singh, Princepal Singh of Moga and Sarvan Singh of Jalandhar had accused the firm of cheating them of Rs 35 lakh on the pretext of sending them abroad.

Princepal Singh told the police that he had approached the firm in December 2019 which demanded Rs 27 lakh from him for sending him to Canada. He gave Rs 7 lakh in cash and transferred Rs 19 lakh in the bank account of the firm. When he did not get his visa, he asked them to return the money in May last year. Later, he got a visa for Australia and a ticket on his WhatsApp number for June 17, last year. A day before the flight was to take off, Dilpreet called and said the flight had been postponed for two days. However, they became suspicious and asked the firm to return the money. He said Harpreet gave cheques worth Rs 19 lakh but they did not return the remaining amount.

Sahota, now the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters), said that investigations revealed the collusion of Harpreet and Dilpreet Kaur in the cheating case. Therefore, an FIR was recommended. Now, the economic offences wing would hold a further probe, he added.

Police had got complaints against accused

• The police received several complaints against the accused firm from July 2022 to September 2022. During the probe, Harpreet Singh and Dilpreet Kaur blamed each other for defrauding the clients. After seeking legal opinion from the District Attorney (DA), the police registered an FIR at Division A police station on April 9.
• The police booked Harpreet Singh, owner of the immigration firm and his manager Dilpreet Kaur, under Section 420 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 13 of Punjab Travel Professionals (Regulation) Act. No arrest has, however, been made so far.