Pizza-man takes flight to India

Harjit Singh was deported to India last night, reports Gurmukh Singh.

Finally, Toronto pizza-man Harjit Singh was put on the plane back to India on Wednesday night.

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The man, who toppled Canadian Immigration Minister Judy Sgro last month by alleging that she had gone back on her word to fix his immigration problems in exchange for free pizzas for her poll campaign, was seen off at Toronto's Pearson Airport by his son and daughter-in-law.

Before boarding the plane, Singh asked his daughter-in-law Harkamal Virk to 'take care'.

Earlier, Virk alleged that Singh was maltreated in his lock-up at the Toronto detention centre even as he awaited his deportation.

"They have thrown him into a hole. They pushed him around. He's saying that they beat me, they haven't given anything for me to eat. He's crying on the phone. I don't know what the hell is going on. Is this what the Canadian government is doing? Is this how you treat a person?" she told Canadian Press.

Singh is being escorted by Canadian immigration officers who will hand him over to the police at Delhi Airport as he has criminal charges pending against him in India for travelling on a fake passport and trying to smuggle out a four-year-old baby in the mid-90s.

Singh came to Canada on a visitor's visa in 1988, and later sought asylum alleging torture at the hands of Indian security forces for his 'links' with terrorists. His first application was rejected in 1992.

After this, even as he filed fresh application for immigration, he travelled to India on a fake passport violating laws, which require a person not to leave Canada till his case is decided.

Later, he was arrested at Delhi Airport for travelling on a fake passport and trying to smuggle out a child.

Then Singh and his two sons were found guilty in a $1 million credit card scam. Seventeen fake Indian passports were also seized from him during a raid related to the credit card scam.
Over the years, Singh's asylum application was rejected five times.