6 held for immigration fraud in UT walk free

A special CBI court on Saturday discharged all the accused who had allegedly sent 106 persons from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to the Gulf countries on alleged documents.

On September 29, 2004, a city-based Protector of Emigrants (POE) and five more recruiting agents, including one from Hoshiarpur, were booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

POE PC Bharadwaj, who was the stamping authority on documents of immigration for unskilled and semi-skilled labour along with Jaswant Singh of the Sector 2-based Singh Travels, Bhupinder Singh of the Sector 42-based BS Enterprises, Prem Kumar of the Hoshiarpur-based Asiatic Tour Services, Kavita Rani of the Sector 34-based Mudra Associates and Narinder Kumar Sharma of the Sector 34-based Shiv Enterprises were booked for allegedly generating forged documents with the POE's help.

When the case was registered, the CBI had seized a large number of incriminating documents. However, Rajan Malhotra, counsel for one of the accused, Bhupinder Singh, said, "All the accused were discharged in the case as the documents which were seized by the CBI did not suggest that the forgery was committed. Since he public prosecutor was unable to produce any such documents which could have proven the forgery, the court discharged the accused from the case".

Counsel for the POE, PC Bhardwaj, VIshal Garg Narwana said, "Another POE who was booked by the CBI in the same case, Raghubir Singh, was also discharged as the CBI was unable to produce any documents suggesting forgery as was in case of my client".

The accused were booked and it was alleged that they had charged between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 from each aspiring emigrant. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates were the countries where these persons were sent.

ALSO READ

Life of Pi singer Bombay Jayashri to perform in Chandigarh

Theories of Sino-India war far-fetched, says ex-Army chief

HC rejects Punjab plea on Bhattal’s govt house

Civic body moots Rs 616-cr budget, discussion today