Goraya resident meets Balbir Singh Seechewal over his brother’s whereabouts in Russia war zone

Months have passed, but Jagdeep Kumar, a resident of Goraya, has no information about his brother Mandeep’s whereabouts, who has been stuck in Russia war zone for the past more than six months.

Jagdeep met MP Balbir Singh Seechewal today and raised the issue with him. “I told him that there was no contact or information regarding Mandeep for the last several months. It is getting difficult with each passing day,” he said.

Jagdeep further added that his brother was among the other eight Indian nationals missing in Russia. He said he was allegedly duped of Rs 6 lakh on the pretext of legally sending his brother from Armenia to Italy via Russia, Finland and Germany.

The rural police had lodged an FIR against eight travel agents in July and arrested one in the case so far. A 45-year-old suspect arrested from Dasuya, Hoshiarpur, was not a registered travel agent. The police said he also used to introduce himself as a journalist working for some news portal.

Phillaur DSP Sarwan Singh had earlier said the process to issue look-out circulars against all accused had begun and none of them would be able to escape now.

Mandeep had gone to Armenia to earn livelihood, but after spending some time there, he decided to work in Italy. He got to know about a travel agent, Gurpreet, from Gurdaspur through social media. He then asked his brother Jagdeep to talk to Gurpreet.

“He introduced me to Sandeep, another travel agent, and some others, and demanded money. I gave them over Rs 6 lakh, but they didn’t fulfil their promise and instead Ankit, a doctor in Russia, forced my brother to join the army there,” alleged Jagdeep.

For his family, it is getting tough to spend days in peace. “I am not even able to stay focused on my work. In the day I am running from pillar to post to know about my brother and in the night I work to earn livelihood,” he said.