Curfew in Mohali: Four men arrested for duping migrant labourers of ₹40,000 on pretext of dropping them to Bihar

Desperate to return back home, 36 migrant labourers gave the men the amount for facilitation of transportation to Bihar, but were instead abandoned at Shambhu Barrier on the Ludhiana-Ambala highway

Four persons were sent to judicial custody on Monday after they were arrested for duping 36 migrant labourers of ₹40,000 on the pretext of sending them to their home state, Bihar.

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The accused have been identified as Satvir Singh and Ravinder Singh of Tarn Taran, Omkar Singh, alias Lucky, of Pathankot, and Harsh of Kathua.

Desperate to return back home, 36 migrant labourers gave the men ₹40,000 for facilitation of transportation to Bihar, but were instead dropped at Shambhu Barrier on the on the Ludhiana-Ambala highway.

Police said the complaint was lodged by one Arjun Kumar, a daily wager who lives in Kumbra and hails from Balrampur village in Bettiah, Bihar. Kumar told the police that he and 36 others, who got stuck due to the curfew, had been planning to travel back.

Kumar alleged that accused Satvir Singh, who also stays in Kumbra, and his friends had assured them that they will drop the migrants back to their village in Bihar. They were asked to collectively pay ₹40,000 up front and additional ₹5,000 on reaching Bihar.

Kumar said that on April 1, they were taken in two vehicles and dropped near the Shambhu Barrier. Satvir asked them to wait saying he will return after picking up a few more migrants, Kumar told the police. The migrants waited for one entire night and kept calling Satvir, who switched off his mobile phone. The cops deployed at the Shambhu Barrier noticed them and they were sent back to Kumbra in a truck.

A case was registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 269 (Whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code at Phase 8 police station, Mohali.

Investigations revealed that the accused have other cases of cheating registered against them in different police stations of Punjab.