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5 travel agents booked for kidnapping, looting Kapurthala man, kin in Uganda
The district police on Tuesday booked five travel agents for allegedly kidnapping a man, his sister and niece in Uganda on the pretext of sending them to the US
The district police on Tuesday booked five travel agents for allegedly kidnapping a man, his sister and niece in Uganda on the pretext of sending them to the US and looting Rs 60 lakh after threatening to kill them last year.
The accused have been identified as Baljeet Singh of Raipurpeer Bakash village of Bholath in Kapurthala district, his wife Palwinder Kaur, Dalwinder Singh of Kamrai village of Bholath, Ajit Pal Singh of Ludhiana and Balbir Singh of Hoshiarpur district.
A case under Sections 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the relevant sections of the Punjab Travel Professionals’ Regulation Act has been registered against the accused, who are on the run.
Complainant Manmahinder Singh of Khalil village of Bholath filed a complaint on October 13, 2018 before Kapurthala SSP alleging that the accused took Rs 42 lakh to arrange US visa for him, his sister Upinderpal Kaur and niece Gursirat Kaur.
He told the police that Baljeet and his wife, who run this racket with the other accused, later said they have arranged US visas for them. “We boarded a flight on December 12, 2017 from Amritsar. Baljeet and his wife also travelled with us. They first took us to Qatar and later to Uganda. There they took us to a house and abducted us,” Manmahinder told the police.
He claimed that the accused forced them to pay 21, 000 US dollars and 16, 000 US dollars twice at gunpoint, taking the total money “looted” from them to Rs 60 lakh.
Manmahinder said they came back to India on May 23, 2018. However, the accused Baljeet, who had returned earlier, refused to pay back their money.
Bholath SHO Karnail Singh said Kapurthala SSP had ordered a probe, following which a case has been registered against the five accused. He said efforts are on to arrest them.
