{Immigration fraud} Ludhiana: Siblings in trouble, 3 more FIRs lodged
Troubles have deepened for travel agent Veenu Malhotra and her brother Amit Malhotra as the police have registered three more fraud cases against them.
Troubles have deepened for travel agent Veenu Malhotra and her brother Amit Malhotra as the police have registered three more fraud cases against them. The duo, already in legal trouble, now face complaints from residents of Ludhiana, Amritsar and Haryana, who claim they were duped of large sums of money on the pretext of being sent to the United Kingdom.
Along with Amit and Veenu, the police have also booked Karun Kumar, the manager of Globalway Immigration, as an accused in these new cases. The Model Town police have lodged all three FIRs under sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In the first case, Baljinder Mani, a resident of Guru Nanak Colony, Block-A, alleged that he was defrauded of ₹18 lakh. Mani said that he contacted Globalway Immigration to arrange a work visa for his wife to the UK. He paid the accused in installments, but despite receiving the full amount, the accused neither arranged the visa nor returned the money.
The second FIR comes from Darseval Singh, a resident of New Pratap Nagar, Amritsar. He claimed that his son, Jaskirat Singh, and daughter-in-law, Sandeep Kaur, were looking to go to the UK on study visas. The accused demanded ₹8 lakh for documentation and college fees but failed to deliver on their promise, refusing to return the money afterward.
The third complaint, filed by Balraj from Jind, Haryana, stated that the accused charged him ₹14.5 lakh to send his son and daughter-in-law to the UK. Despite waiting for months, no visas were arranged. After pressure from influential people, the accused returned ₹9.7 lakh but did not pay the interest owed.
Model Town police station station house officer (SHO) sub-inspector Avneet Kaur said six FIRs have been lodged against the accused. The accused Veenu Malhotra and her brother Amit Malhotra were arrested. However, their aide Karan Kumar is yet to be arrested.
The SHO stated that initial investigations showed that the accused did help some clients obtain visas, but later, when some applications were rejected, they failed to return the money. This led them to pursue further frauds, accepting payments without even applying for visas in many cases.