Two FIRs lodged against Batala travel agent in Nicaragua ‘donkey flight’ case

Tribune News Service

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, January 15

Weeks after a Nicaragua-bound ‘donkey flight’ carrying nearly 200 Punjabis was grounded in France and diverted to Mumbai, the Punjab Police have registered two FIRs in the case in Amritsar.

Editorial: ‘Donkey route’ risky

Of 12, only 2 testify

• 12 passengers who were on flight were called, but only two agreed to record statements
• ‘Victims’ hesitating as they fear losing chances of reimbursement of the money paid to the travel agents
• Nearly 200 Punjabis were on the flight grounded in France and then diverted to Mumbai

According to information, the Amritsar (rural) police had called 12 passengers who were on the flight, but only two of them agreed to record their statements. The FIRs were lodged at Ajnala and Mehta police stations against a Batala-based travel agent, Tarsem Singh. The complainants are Kanwarman Singh of Talwandi village and Damanpreet Singh of Buttar Sewian village. The cases have been registered under Section 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and Section 13 of the Punjab Travel Professionals Regulation Act.

Kanwarman alleged that Tarsem, from whom he had bought a ticket for Dubai, defrauded him on the pretext of sending him to the US. “Tarsem lured me with the US dream. I was told to pay $5,000 to his Dubai accomplice who went by the surname Sandhu. I was promised that Nicaragua will be the first stopover en route the US. The American visa too was to be given there. The flight took off from Dubai on December 21 (2023), only to be grounded in France for four days and then diverted to Mumbai,” he alleged.

Damanpreet alleged that Tarsem duped him of Rs 42 lakh by selling him the American dream. He alleged that the agent had cheated him earlier of Rs 11 lakh by promising to send him to Portugal and Australia.

Amritsar (rural) SSP Satinder Singh said he was hopeful more “victims” would come forward to lodge complaints after the registration of the FIRs. “Efforts are underway to arrest Tarsem Singh and bust the entire immigration nexus,” said the SSP while talking to The Tribune.

Source said the “victims” were hesitating to record their statements as they feared they would lose the chances of “reimbursement of the money they had paid to the travel agents”.

Apart from the nearly 200 Punjabis, 66 Gujaratis had opted for the Nicaragua “donkey route” for realising their American dream. They had paid huge amounts to human traffickers for taking the illegal route to the US via Mexico from Nicaragua.

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#France #Mumbai #Punjab Police