Nicaragua flight: Agents adviced flyers to show clips of crackdown on Amritpal Singh for asylum

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, January 14

Banking high on the reported pro-Khalistan wave in the US and other countries, the agents involved in alleged human trafficking to Nicaragua had asked Punjabis to pose as Khalistanis and seek asylum wherever they get caught on the route. The asylum was the target of all 276 Indians on board and they were advised to use “persecution” as shield if caught on the way.

The ongoing investigation into alleged human trafficking after a chartered flight carrying 303 Indians was grounded by France has brought to fore startling revelations, according to a senior CID official.

According to authorities, over 150 passengers from Punjab headed to Nicaragua were asked to keep videos of pro-Khalistan activist Amritpal’s crackdown and news articles highlighting internet suspension and detentions handy and present those to support their claims. They were also asked to read up on Khalistan.

The instructions and videos were reportedly shared on WhatsApp and were also deleted once it was instructed by the agents. However, the CID team has managed to retrieve many of those.

“India’s resistance to Khalistan and its support in various other countries was being banked on. Asylum was handed as a weapon to them if stopped in France and even as a reason to stay in USA. The emigrants were asked to carry all viral videos and messages on social media about the crackdown against Amritpal. They were asked to claim that they had been detained illegally in India to support their claims,” revealed an investigating officer. Sources claim that two Punjab emigrants on board managed to get asylum in France using that card.

Interestingly, 96 Gujaratis abroad the plane were asked to claim they were members of Congress and AAP and felt threatened owing to their political allegiance. The young couples on board and few men from Haryana were asked to claim threat over inter-caste marriages.

The Gujarat police are in process of retrieving more data and issuing a lookout notice against 14 agents booked so far.

The agents booked by CID were named as Joginder alias Jaggi Paji and Joginder Mansaram from Delhi; Salim Dubai and Sam Paji from Dubai; Chandresh Patel, Sandip Patel and Kiran Patel from Mehsana; Bhargav Darji, Jayesh Patel, Biren Patel, Arpit Jhala and Piyush Barot from Gandhinagar; and Raju Panchal and Raja Bhai from Mumbai.

Gujarat ADGP CID (Crime) Rajkumar Pandian confirmed the same saying these agents have been booked for human trafficking, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.