When Harry met 7: How mother-daughter duped Punjab families of lakhs, held proxy engagements, promised life in Canada

Rajwinder, a resident of Bathinda’s Dullewala village, says an accidental WhatsApp voice note helped him blow the lid off the alleged racket.

“Harpreet’s mother mistakenly sent me a voice note actually meant for her. In the voice note, she discussed the money they had to take from the Faizgarh family. She also told Harpreet to keep fooling and reassuring me regarding our wedding. That’s when I decided to dig about Faizgarh family and got to know she was getting engaged to their son next,” says Rajwinder, who has studied till Class 10.

Bathinda resident Rajwinder Singh got “engaged” to Harpreet by proxy at a dhaba in Moga in July 2024. He tipped-off the police regarding her July 10 engagement. (Express Photo)

While the July 10 raid came as a shock for Jasdeep and his family, it was an eye-opener for Khanna Police too: Seven men from across Punjab — all of whom allegedly got engaged to her over the past two years by proxy, either over video calls “from Canada” or to her framed photograph — have accused the mother-daughter of taking lakhs of rupees from them under various pretexts in lieu of taking them to Canada after their marriage to Harpreet.

While Khanna Police have arrested Harpreet’s mother Sukhdarshan Kaur, her brother Manpreet Singh and their accomplice Ashok Kumar for allegedly duping men from Bathinda, Moga, Shahkot, Raikot, Barnala and Dharamkot seeking brides settled in Canada, a Look-Out Circular is expected to be issued soon against Harpreet, who went to Canada on a student visa and is currently there on a work permit.

The police said the accused would target their victims either via matrimonial ads in newspapers or vicholas (local matchmakers). Sukhdarshan, a resident of Ludhiana’s Jagraon, is a widow, said police.

Rupinder, a resident of Langewal village in Jalandhar’s Shahkot, during his “engagement” by proxy to Harpreet. (Express Photo)

Explaining the modus operandi, Inspector Akash Dutt, Station House Officer (SHO), Doraha Police Station, says, “Sukhdarshan, the mother, would fix Harpreet’s marriage to men who wanted to settle in Canada but could not due to various limitations. She would then make Harpreet speak to those men and their families via video calls. She would then hold proxy engagement ceremonies of her daughter and reach fiancés’ homes with a box of laddoos. Claiming to be very poor and having incurred huge debts to send Harpreet abroad, Sukhdarshan would soon start asking these families to compensate her for helping settle their sons in Canada. Since she readily agreed to bank transfers, the families didn’t suspect much.”

In the case of at least one family, police said, Sukhdarshan allegedly gave them a written agreement as guarantee of marriage. Police say the duped families never approached the police since Harpreet would keep talking to some of her fiancés for months. While Harpreet kept putting off the wedding ceremony, her mother would keep promising to return the money to the families concerned.

Sukhdarshan Kaur with her daughter Harpreet aka Harry

Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Harjeet Singh, the investigating officer in the case, says Harpreet too would play her part in the fraud. “Harpreet would initially take calls from her fiancés and talk to them over video calls. In some cases, she too would demand money for medicines, pending rent, college fee, etc. Her mother too would ask these families for money to pay for Harpreet’s return ticket to India but she would never come. If the fiancés refused to give them more money, Harpreet would stop taking their calls,” says the ASI.

ASI Singh says that Sukhdarshan would promise a wedding within 2-3 months of these proxy engagement. According to Inspector Dutt, transactions worth at least Rs 1.60 crore in bank accounts belonging to the mother-son duo over the past two years are under the scanner.

Pavittar Singh, a resident of Faizgarh village in Khanna, whose son Jasdeep Singh was scheduled to get “engaged” to Harpreet Kaur on July 10 by proxy. The ceremony was raided by the police following a tip-off. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)

Pavittar Singh, whose son Jasdeep was set to get ‘engaged’ on July 10, says, “Jasdeep wanted to settle in Canada and Harpreet had a Canada work permit. They had spoken on video calls before the engagement. Her mother demanded Rs 18 lakh to repay the debts she said she had incurred to send Harpreet to Canada. We had already given her Rs 1 lakh and spent Rs 40,000 on Harpreet’s trousseau. Another Rs 6 lakh was to be paid after the engagement, but the police raid saved us.”

Rajwinder, who tipped-off the police regarding Harpreet’s July 10 engagement, alleges that his family was duped of Rs 18.50 lakh by the accused. “We responded to their matrimonial ad. They told us she lives in Surrey (in Canada),” he claims.

Though Harpreet’s mother held their ‘engagement’ at a dhaba in Moga in July 2024, Rajwinder claims his family footed the bill of Rs 4,600.

“Sukhdarshan had promised that Harpreet would come to India in September for the wedding but she didn’t. Soon, the mother-daughter started demanding money on various pretexts, so we sold off our land, our only source of livelihood. We gave Rs 6.50 lakh for Harpreet’s overdue tuition, Rs 2.50 lakh for her airfare to India and Rs 1 lakh for her personal expenses, rent, etc. When we refused to give more money, Harpreet stopped taking my calls,” he says.

Looking distraught as he waited to record his statement at Doraha Police Station, Gaganpreet Singh, 29, of Littar village in Ludhiana’s Raikot, was accompanied by his parents and a paternal uncle. Gaganpreet, who got “engaged” to Harpreet in February, says his family had paid Sukhdarshan Rs 8.50 lakh of the Rs 25 lakh she had demanded.

Gaganpreet Singh, a resident of Littar village in Ludhiana’s Raikot, got “engaged” by proxy to Harpreet in February. (Express Photo)

Gaganpreet, who has studied till Class 9, says, “I took a loan of Rs 6 lakh from my Canada-based sister. For the rest, I sold off our buffaloes and took another loan from my uncle.”

His mother Manjit Kaur says the wedding was scheduled for May. “My Canada-based daughter asked Harpreet to meet her, but they only spoke over video calls,” she says.

Manjit adds, “We gave Sukhdarshan Rs 8.50 lakh till the engagement. After that, she asked for Rs 2 lakh more. When I told her that we won’t be able to pay up till the wedding, she started dilly-dallying. Ultimately, we told her to call off the wedding, but she never repaid us.”

Most victims The Indian Express spoke to reported a similar modus operandi.

Swaran Singh, 49, a resident of Kishanpura Kalan in Moga district’s Dharamkot whose son Kamaljeet got “engaged” to Harpreet in January 2024, says Sukhdarshan wanted them to pay her Rs 12.50 lakh.

Gaganpreet Singh, a resident of Littar village in Ludhiana’s Raikot who got “engaged” to Harpreet in February, with his mother Manjit Kaur at Doraha Police Station. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)

“Till their engagement, we had given her Rs 5.45 lakh. Once, Harpreet asked Kamaljeet for Rs 2.30 lakh to pay her overdue college fees. We paid that too, but she disappeared,” he says.

Her “fiancé” Kamaljeet says they spoke over the phone for nearly nine months. “She would only initiate the call when she needed money — for tuition or medicines. After I confronted her one day, asking her for details on her degree completion, job, etc., she stopped taking my calls,” he says.

Daya Singh, a resident of Langewal village of Jalandhar’s Shahkot whose son Rupinder, 24, a graduate, was “engaged” to Harpreet, says Sukhdarshan wanted them to pay her 17 lakh, “of which we paid Rs 5.50 lakh till their engagement”.

Kamaljeet Singh, a resident of Kishanpura Kalan in Moga district’s Dharamkot, during his “engagement” by proxy to Harpreet in January 2024. (Express Photo)

He says, “Harpreet and Rupinder spoke on the phone for 6-7 months. After their engagement, Sukhdarshan wanted more money to pay her college fee, but we refused. Harpreet stopped speaking to Rupinder after that.”

Gora Singh, a resident of Vairoke village in Moga district, says Sukhdarshan duped him of Rs 6 lakh despite signing a “written wedding agreement” on May 25, 2023. The “agreement”, a copy of which is now with the police, reportedly states, “I am engaging my daughter to Gora Singh after taking Rs 6 lakh and they will pay the rest Rs 9 lakh after the marriage.”

Joginder Pal Singh Sekhon, a former teacher from Powat village of Machhiwara, says his son Shudh Singh, 30, a Dubai-based driver, got “engaged” to Harpreet on June 11 this year.

Shudh Singh, a driver in Dubai who belongs to Powat village in Machhiwara, and Harpreet were engaged using their framed photographs. (Express Photo)

“We had seen their matrimonial ad in a newspaper. Sukhdarshan demanded Rs 15 lakh and came to our house with fake relatives. Since both were abroad, we solemnized their engagement using their photos. We have already transferred Rs 5 lakh to Sukhdarshan’s bank account and the wedding was scheduled for December. We heard about her arrest recently,” said Sekhon.

With many victims showing photographic evidence of their “engagement”, the police are now in the process of identifying the “relatives”. ASI Harjeet Singh says, “The same persons accompanied the mother and son to these engagement ceremonies as relatives. We are yet to identify them.”

As she was being produced in court, Sukhdarshan told The Indian Express that she had duped multiple families because she had spent a lot of money to send her daughter abroad and was in debt — “I took a loan of Rs 20-25 lakh to send my daughter to Canada. I have lost my husband. Majboori si (I had no other choice).”