Four US deportees with criminal past land in police net

Two deportees in the second batch, Sandeep Singh and Pradeep Singh, who were among 116 individuals deported by the US in a C-17 aircraft that landed at the Amritsar airport on Saturday night, have been arrested in connection with a murder case, police said on Sunday.

Confirming the arrest, Patiala police said both cousins were wanted in a murder case registered in 2023 in Rajpura town of Patiala district.

“Both the accused had then been booked under Sections 302, 307, 323, 506, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the murder case registered on June 26, 2023,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Nanak Singh, said while confirming their arrest from the Amritsar airport.

Police said both had been declared proclaimed offenders (PO).

Both the accused were sent to three-day police custody by a local court.

The SSP said a lookout circular (LOC) was issued against the duo. “We will interrogate them to find out how they managed to flee the country despite having LOC issued against them,” The SSP added.

Family members of the accused claimed that both had left the country nearly 10 months ago.

Mandeep Singh, brother of Pradeep, said that they had spent nearly ₹1.2 crore on both Pradeep and Sandeep to send them to the US. “Both – Pradeep and Sandeep – were falsely implicated in the case. We demand a re-investigation of the case so that real culprits can be arrested,” Mandeep said.

Ludhiana deportee has 2 pending FIRs

Another deportee Gurwinder Singh, 26, a resident of Sasrali Colony, Meharban, who has two FIRs of snatching and theft lodged against him, has been taken into custody, police said on Sunday.

Gurwinder was taken into custody by the Meharban police to verify the status of both cases.

SHO Inspector Gurpreet Singh Handa said: “Gurwinder has a criminal record. We are checking the details of the cases to know whether he was arrested in those cases or was out on bail.”

The family members claimed that earlier Gurwinder was a member of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar). They alleged that following the political pressure the police had implicated him in fake cases. However, later he left the party.

Gurwinder’s family said he had travelled to the US after paying ₹45 lakh to an agent.

“He spent three months in transit,” said Gurwinder’s father, Dari Singh, who is a constable in Punjab Police and is an ex-serviceman.

He said the family had borrowed a significant portion of this amount on interest to fulfil his son’s dream of settling abroad.

Haryana deportee held in connection with murder case

Kurukshetra A Haryana man, who was among the second batch of illegal Indian immigrants deported by the US, was arrested in connection with a murder case, police said on Sunday.

Kurukshetra superintendent of police (SP) Varun Singala said a lookout notice was issued against Sahil Verma of Pehowa, who was wanted in a pending FIR registered on May 14, 2022, under provisions of the IPC, including criminal intimidation, and relevant provisions of the POCSO Act.

With inputs from PTI