Haryana Police register 73 FIRs against illegal travel agents

KARNAL/AMBALA: Days after 76 illegal immigrants from the state were deported from the United States, the Haryana police on Friday cracked the whip on illegal travel agents in several districts.

As many as 25 FIRs were registered in Karnal, 16 in Kurukshetra, 15 in Kaithal, 11 in Ambala, four in Jind and one each in Panipat and Yamunanagar districts.

Karnal Range IGP Bharti Arora said the FIRs were registered on the complaints of deported persons. She said a probe has been initiated against these travel agents.

The police said these FIRs were registered under Section 24 of the Immigration Act and Sections 420, 406 and 506 of the IPC. However, they said many agents were already booked for illegally sending people abroad.

An illegal immigrant Pushpendra Singh from Ambala said, “I paid ₹14 lakh to a travel agent to send me to the US in April 2019. I, along with 18 other Indians, walked for nearly five days in the Panama forests and spent a month there. On reaching Mexico, we received a country-out pass and later travelled to Tijuana near to the American border. Then, I was caught by the American Border Patrol. I had to spend seven days at a police station in California and I was transferred twice to camps where I spent nearly nine months and I was finally transferred to Texas. On May 18, we were deported back to India from Texas.”

Kurukshetra SP Astha Modi said, “We have registered 16 FIRs against different travel agents on the complaints of the illegal immigrants.”