Punjab: The Amritsar police have arrested two fake visa agents who allegedly abducted two Sri Lankan nationals who had come here hoping to secure work visas for Albania, a senior police official said on Wednesday. The duo, who were part of a group of six Sri Lankan nationals, were abducted on December 29 and rescued the next day, police said. The accused have been identified as Ankit (22), a resident of Kapurthala, and Inderjit Singh (23), a resident of Chandpur in Jalandhar rural. The accused had promised to arrange work visas for them. Ankit had recently returned from Italy. The victims, Kanishk and Sumardan, were rescued from Hoshiarpur within hours of the incident being reported to the city police.
The group had come to India on valid visit visas. The duo was introduced to the fake visa agents by a Sri Lankan national whom they met in Delhi. The accused charged them USD 3,000 in exchange for arranging work visas for the European country, police said. Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that on December 27, the accused called Kanishk and Sumardan and told them that they had secured their work visas and called them to Amritsar, from where they had to catch a flight to Albania. He said all the six Sri Lankan nationals reached Amritsar on December 29. The accused picked up Kanishk and Sumardan in a car from the bus stand. The next morning they made video calls to the other victims and threatened to kill the two. They demanded 8,000 euros for their release. “The accused were arrested on Tuesday,” Bhullar said. He said three cases have been registered against Inderjit under the Arms Act and the NDPS Act.
