Punjabi University gatka coach held in travel fraud case

Punjabi University gatka coach Avtar Singh was arrested on Monday here on the allegation of cheating a couple of Rs 10.30 lakh on the pretext of sending their son to Canada.

Punjabi University gatka coach Avtar Singh was arrested on Monday here on the allegation of cheating a couple of Rs 10.30 lakh on the pretext of sending their son to Canada.

The accused lives in the university’s housing complex. Complainant Sarabjit Kaur of Ludhiana told the police that in February 2012, she had paid him to send her son, Manjinder Singh, abroad, and six months later, her husband, Harjit Singh, had committed suicide after not being able to repay the relatives from whom he had borrowed the money. She has also claimed that in 2012, a neighbour had introduced her to the coach, who was to collect Rs 15 lakh after her son had boarded the flight.

“He took my son to the Delhi airport but kept his passport and didn’t provide him with visa details,” Sarabjit Kaur told the police, adding: “We delivered him money at the airport gate. That’s when he created a drama, saying there had been a police raid on his contact in Canada, so Manjinder would have to catch a later flight. He left the airport, asking us to stay in Delhi until he had made other arrangements. Next day, he stopped taking our calls. After a few days, when we confronted him, he agreed to return the money but kept lingering the matter.”