Man loses Rs 10 lakh in bid to send brother to America

The dream of sending his brother to America for a better life cost a man Rs 10 lakh after the immigration agents sent his brother to Dubai and then to Thailand instead of the USA.

The suspects were identified as Gurjant, a resident of Patiala, Rinku, a resident of Ismailabad, and Rinku’s wife.

Jagdish Kumar, a resident of Ismailabad, stated that his younger brother Baljit (32), who studied till Class X, was unemployed. “Baljit is married and he used to do petty jobs and we wanted to send him abroad so that the financial condition of the family would improve. I came in contact with Rinku and Gurjant, who work as travel agents, and they sought Rs 27 lakh to send Baljit to America and also assured that they would arrange for a job for him. Earlier this year, I handed over the required documents and some advance to them. On May 3, they sent Baljit to Dubai, then to Almaty and then further to Thailand”, said Jagdish, who works as a plumber.

“Despite taking Rs 8 lakh in installments they kept sending Baljit to different countries instead of America. After Baljit reached Thailand, the agents demanded more money to send Baljit to America, but I had lost my faith in them and I refused to give them more money. I told them to bring Baljit back to India, but they refused following which I had to arrange for a ticket for Baljit and he returned to India on May 17”, he added.

Jagdish said when he confronted the agents, they refused to return the money and also threatened him of dire consequences if he made any police complaint. A case has been registered under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC and Sections 10 and 24 of the Immigration Act at the Ismailabad police station.