Mohali: 12 duped of ₹2.4 cr with study visa promise, 2 booked
The accused, identified as Sarabjit Singh Sandhu of Sector 82-A, Mohali, and Ravinderpal Singh Deol of Sector 91, are already in judicial custody in another immigration fraud case, according to police
Sohana police on Wednesday booked two immigration consultants for duping a total of 12 people of ₹2.41 crore after promising to send them to Canada and Australia on study visas.
The accused, identified as Sarabjit Singh Sandhu of Sector 82-A and Ravinderpal Singh Deol of Sector 91, are already in judicial custody in another immigration fraud case, according to police.
“The accused were running their business from an office located in the basement of one of their houses,” a senior police officer said.
In the present case, the accused were booked following the complaint of Vatanpreet Singh of Regency Heights, Sector 91.
The complainant told police that he met the accused while studying in Mohali.
The accused, according to the complainant, lured him by promising to send him and a friend abroad on study visa, following which he transferred ₹10 lakh in Sandhu’s account and paid ₹20 lakh in cash.
“My other friends also paid them money after they were assured of study visas for Canada and Australia. But the accused handed three applicants three fake visas. They neither fulfilled their promise nor returned the money,” the complainant said.
After the case was investigated by a DSP-rank officer, a report was submitted to the Mohali SSP, who ordered registration of FIR against the accused.
As such, a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, besides relevant sections of the Immigration Act, was registered at the IT/Aerocity police station.