Families relieved as 3 Punjabi men trapped in Iran contact them after ‘rescue’; authorities yet to confirm

Husanpreet’s cousin Manpreet Singh said, “I received a call from an Iranian number at around 6 pm. It was Husanpreet. He only said, ‘We are safe now. Indian authorities have rescued us and we are now being taken to the embassy.’ Before I could ask more, the line went dead. We are still awaiting official confirmation, but at least we know he is alive.”

Amritpal’s cousin Yudhvir Singh said he had a similar conversation with Amritpal, adding that officials are yet to contact them.

Gursahib Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Model Town police station, Hoshiarpur, said they have not received any official communication about the rescue.

The journey that went wrong

With dreams of settling down in Australia, the three men left Punjab with the help of local travel agents. Each family paid a staggering Rs 18 lakh—much of it borrowed—to two Hoshiarpur-based agents, Dheeraj Atwal and Kamal Atwal. According to family members, the young men were flown to Dubai first and from there, they were misled into traveling to Tehran in Iran, with the promise that they would soon board a flight to Australia.

However, instead of boarding a flight, they were intercepted by a group of men who claimed that they were sent by the agents. The trio was forcibly taken, stripped, beaten, and held captive. In the days that followed, their loved ones received disturbing video and audio calls.

On May 11 and 17, the families received calls showing the men visibly injured and terrified. “They were forced to tell us to pay Rs 18 lakh again. Their clothes were torn, and their faces had blood,” said Ashok Kumar, Gurdeep Singh’s brother. The captors, allegedly linked to a Pakistan-based human trafficking network, demanded ransom payments into Pakistani bank accounts.

The Punjab Police later registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the Atwal brothers and their associate, Saavita Soya, under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Punjab Travel Professions Regulation Act.

Breakthrough

After May 17, all communication ceased. The devastated families began approaching local politicians, police authorities, and the Ministry of External Affairs for help. “I was losing hope. Days passed and there was nothing. I feared the worst,” said Gurdeep Kaur, Amritpal’s mother, who has been stitching clothes to support her family after spending all their savings to send her son abroad.

“We were informed that they have been rescued, but they are still far from home and the Indian government has not released an official statement detailing the rescue. We want our son back. They have been through hell,” said Yudhvir, adding, “We want justice. Those agents ruined our lives. They must not go free.”

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on the local police to apprehend the agents who are on the run. Their offices remain shuttered and mobile numbers switched off.

Shady agents and transnational crime rings have lured hundreds of youths from the state with the promise of settling abroad. Many have sold land, taken loans, or pooled community resources, only to end up in detention centres or deserts.

Earlier this year, around 127 Punjabis were among the 332 Indians initially deported by the United States in three batches in military aircraft that landed in Amritsar on February 5, 15, and 16. According to data compiled by officials in Punjab, the first batch of 31 deportees from the state (including a minor) had paid around Rs 4.95 crore to the agents.