Four Indians found dead on US-Canada border were from village in Gujarat’s Mehsana: Cops

The four Indians were among the six people who had died allegedly while crossing the Canada-US border illegally.

Searchers look for victims in Akwesasne, Quebec, Friday, March 31, 2023. Authorities in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne said Friday one child is missing after the bodies of six migrants of Indian and Romanian descent were pulled from a river that straddles the Canada-U.S. border. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Four Indians whose bodies were recovered from a marshy area of the St Lawrence River in the Akwesasne region of the Canadian province of Quebec on Thursday have been identified to be from a village in the Mehsana district of Gujarat. They were among the six people who had died allegedly while crossing the Canada-US border illegally.

Mehsana Superintendent of Police Achal Tyagi said, “After the news and photos of family members surfaced on social media, the family of the four victims from Manekpur village of Mehsana district identified them. We talked to the family on Sunday morning. We have not yet got any intimation from the Canadian authorities.”

Tyagi further informed that the four — Praveen Chaudhary (50), his wife Diksha Chaudhary (45), and their children, Vidhi Chaudhary (23), and Mit Chaudhary (20) — had gone on a trip to Canada two months ago. “The family of the victims told us that they had been in touch with them, and would talk over the phone every 2-3 days. It was just for the last week they were not in contact with the victims. And then they heard the news about their deaths,” said Tyagi.

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The family had reached Canada on February 2. “We are yet to ascertain whether they went to Canada for a trip or something else, and how did they end up like that,” added Tyagi.

The other two bodies were identified as that of a Romanian family, including a child.

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According to the reports, they tried to enter the United States from Canada by boat across the St Lawrence River. According to the local papers, they allegedly tried to enter the US illegally.

These deaths are similar to the death of a family of four, including an infant, from Dingucha village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar district in Gujarat in January 2022, who froze to death in Canada while allegedly attempting to cross over illegally to the US. The victims were Jagdish Patel (39), Vaishali Patel, (37), their 17-year-old daughter and their four-year-old son.

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Two agents were arrested in this case for facilitating the illegal immigration of these four victims, by the Ahmedabad crime branch in January 2023.

In another incident in December 2022, a resident from Gandhinagar’s Kalol, Brijkumar Yadav, who died while scaling a wall near Tijuana (Mexico) allegedly to illegally cross over into the US. While his wife, Pooja Yadav, fell on US soil, Brijkumar fell from a height of five metres on the Mexican side along with his toddler son. The son, according to the local reports, was later united with his mother.

The Gujarat Police had arrested two agents for human trafficking in February 2023. A case was registered against seven persons, one from Ahmedabad and others from Gandhinagar.

In March 2022, the US border authorities had arrested six youths from Gujarat after their boat sank in the Saint Regis river, close to the Canada border. They were trying to enter the US illegally, the authorities had claimed.

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