Gujarat couple trying to illegally go to US returns home post captivity in Iran

Two agents from Ahmedabad Pintu Goswami and Abhay Rawal have been booked for promising to send them to the United States (US) illegally via Iran

A Gujarati couple held captive in Iran has returned home with the help of Indian and Iranian agencies even as two agents from Ahmedabad have been booked for promising to send them to the United States (US) illegally in the latest in a series of cases of endangering of lives for pursuit for better opportunities abroad.

In October, a 36-year-old man from Gujarat’s Chattral died after he fell off a barrier on the US-Mexico border. (AP)

Rajubhai Patel, a relative of couple Pankaj Patel and Nisha, 29, said they underwent an ordeal. He added the captors, including a Pakistani human trafficker, refused to release the couple despite getting about ₹15 lakh ransom.

According to a first information report filed against the agents Pintu Goswami and Abhay Rawal for the abduction and torture, the couple paid ₹1.15 crore to them to go to the US. The couple was taken to Iran, where the Pakistani captor, who seemed to be working in collaboration with Goswami and Rawal, took them to a hotel and held them hostage for ransom, it added.

Deputy police commissioner Chaitanya Mandalik said the case was handled under the guidance of Gujarat home minister Harsh Sanghvi who also contacted the Iranian government and ensured its intervention to free the couple. “Another person from Hyderabad also held captive in Iran has been freed and brought back.”

A video purportedly showed Pankaj Patel, who worked at a telecom company in Ahmedabad, having suffered cuts on his back with a blade in captivity.

He was hospitalised when the couple returned to Ahmedabad via Tehran and Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon.

The couple was held captive months after a family of four from Gujarat’s Mehsana were among the eight people who died in March while trying to illegally enter the US from Canada by boat. The four had tourist visas to Canada and a local agent promised to help them enter the US illegally.

An illegal immigration scam came to light earlier in January 2022 when four members of a family from Gujarat’s Dingucha froze to death in Canada while allegedly attempting to cross over illegally to the US.

In October, a 36-year-old man, who worked at a factory in Gujarat’s Chattral, died after he fell off an over a 30ft metal barrier on the US-Mexico border while holding his three-year-old son, who survived. The child’s mother also suffered a fractured hip and an arm injury while trying to cross the fence.

Forty-five people were in September last year booked in Mehsana for their alleged involvement in an illegal immigration scam. They allegedly helped ineligible students acquire high International English Language Testing System scores to obtain admission to Canadian colleges before sending them to the US.

The action followed the arrest of six people from Gujarat after their boat capsized while illegally crossing over to the US from Canada in April 2022. They had student visas to Canada but could barely speak or write English and needed a translator when they were produced before a court in the US.

HT in April reported that agents extorted anywhere between ₹60 lakh to ₹1 crore for helping people illegally emigrate.