Police announce cash rewards for info on 23 Punjab travel agents

LUDHIANA: : The Punjab police has announced cash rewards for providing information about 23 travel agents, who are booked in in multiple cases of fraud and illegal immigration.

For 22 travel agents, the cash reward is ₹ 20,000 each. For Gagan Kumar Bakhshi of Lambran of Jalandhar, who is booked in at least 75 cases of fraud and illegal immigration, the reward money is ₹ 1.50 lakh.

The list was issued following a report submitted by the additional director general of police, (intelligence).

Five travel agents in the wanted list are from Kotkapura of Faridkot district followed by four from Amritsar and three from Jalandhar. The rest are from Ludhiana, Chamkaur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Batala, Sidhwan Bet, Gurdaspur and Nawanshehar. Some of the travel agents are wanted by police for more than two decades.

The sources said that most of the travel agents have escaped and settled in foreign countries to avoid arrest.

Deputy commissioner of police (investigation),varinder Singh Brar, said police have lodged at least 10 cases against such agents in the past 7 days.

The Ludhiana police had initiated a drive against the travel agents for duping people of crores of rupees on the pretext of sending them abroad in 2020 and 2021.

Asistant sub-inspector (ASI) Balwant Singh, deputed in Ludhiana, had received the President’s Police Medal for action against unauthorised travel agents in the city in 2019.

In 2018, police had initiated a similar drive against fraud travel agents.

They had arrested Nitish Ghai, wanted in at least 38 cases of fraud for duping people on the pretexts of sending them abroad. A total of 75 FIRS were registered against Ghai for immigration frauds.