38 travel agents held in Haryana this month
KARNAL: The special investigation team (SIT) formed to probe the immigration frauds has arrested 38 travel agents and registered 201 first information reports (FIRs) since June 2.
Inspector general of police (Karnal Range) Bharti Arora, who is heading the investigation team, said, “As of now, 211 travel agents have been booked under the Emigration Act and 38 have been arrested from different districts.”
“The police have also recovered Rs 5 lakh from some of these agents and more arrests are likely in the days to come. The number of FIRs is going up day by day as more people are coming forward to file their complaints,” the IG added.
According to Arora, youths from Karnal, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Kaithal districts were “soft targets” for these agents. Maximum FIRs were registered in these districts — 52 in Karnal, 40 in Kaithal and 35 in Kurukshetra.
The IG said that SIT was also investigating 270 FIRs registered in the state in the past two years against travel agents.
PRE-ARREST BAILS HAMPERING PROGRESS
The police are facing problems in arresting such agents as many of them have already secured anticipatory bails.
As per police officials, action against such travel agents has helped many youths in mustering courage to file a complaint.
Kurukshetra superintendent of police Astha Modi said, “Maximum
complaints have poured in from the districts near the Punjab border. Many victims from these areas sold their assets to go abroad, even illegally.”
“Now, they are left with nothing,” she added.
The police have even decided against taking any action against the youths duped by travel agents even as they also violated the international immigration laws by choosing illegal ways to chase their dollar dreams. They ended up coughing up Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh to reach the US.
It is worth mentioning here that on June 2, Haryana home minister Anil Vij had constituted a seven-member SIT to investigate cases of ‘kabootarbazi’ (human trafficking) and immigration frauds in the state days after the US deported 76 people of Haryana.