Rajasthan travel agent couple dupe Haryana trio of Rs. 32 lakh on pretext of jobs in Singapore

Police identified the three men as Sonu Sahu (23), Praveen Sahu (23) and Vikas Sheoran (26). The three have studied up to Class XII and are from small farmer families from Mandhi Piranu village of Charkhi Dadri district.

Sonu told The Indian Express that the family of his cousin Praveen had to hand over their 1 acre of land to someone as security to take a loan to fulfill Praveen’s dream of working abroad.

Mandhi Piranu is the maternal home of Ravish’s mother (Vinod), so he keeps coming to this village often, said the youths. According to them, Ravish offered to send the trio to Singapore on a work visa at a cost of Rs 10-12 lakh per youth.

Praveen went to Singapore on a Travel Point (TP) visa on January 29, 2023, and returned within a few months on May 3. Vikas went to the island country on a work visa on March 13 last year and returned to India on July 25, 2023. Sonu too went to the city-state (Southeast Asian country) on a work visa on July 14 last year and returned to India within a month on August 12.

When asked, why he moved to Singapore even after knowing the unpleasant experience of his cousin Praveen, Sonu said he wanted to try his luck as he had already handed over the money to Ravish and his visa had also arrived by then. Sonu said he was asked to meet a contact of Ravish in Singapore.

Sonu said that a group of 30 youths from different Indian states was kept in a small room in Singapore. “Sometimes we used to get food from a gurdwara there, and at times we arranged food from the market on our own. My parents deposited money in my bank account. I preferred to return to India,” Sonu added.

Vikas told The Indian Express that they were promised jobs like counter attendants at hotels, monitoring loading and unloading of vehicles, and driving vehicles.

According to Vikas, for one or two days they went to a college also. “Then, we were sent to a big restaurant to clean utensils. After 15-20 days, I realised that there was no such job opportunity as was promised to us. When we asked for a proper job, we were threatened, our passports and mobile phones were snatched.”

In a joint complaint to the police, Sonu and Vikas said: “The agent (Ravish) arranged our meeting with criminals there who told us that they have a gang and we have to work for it. When we refused to work for the gang, they victimised us. After returning to India, when we asked Ravish to return our money, he threatened to get us killed.”

Praveen said he was promised a monthly salary of 3,000 (Singapore dollars), but was paid just 1,500 dollars – that too not on time. “I was offered to work in a restaurant where I had to clean dishes. Sometimes we did not get any work there. There was no proper arrangement of food and other essentials for us in Singapore.”

Jitender Sheoran, husband of Mandhi Piranu village sarpanch Anita Devi, said: “We saw the injured faces of these youths on a video call. The same agent, who has been booked now, had taken Rs 10 lakh each from around five youths from our village earlier too. Later, after a compromise, he returned just around Rs 4 lakh out of Rs 10 lakh taken from each of them. Altogether, till now, he has collected more than Rs 1 crore from our village.”

After receiving the complaint from the youths, Charkhi Dadri SP Nikita Gahlaut on October 31, 2023, had asked the economic offences wing of the police to probe the matter which recommended registration of an FIR into it. Subsequently, on January 29, 2024, the FIR was registered at Badhra police station on charges of cheating.

Badhra police station SHO Om Prakash said: “As per complaint of the three youths, they had given Rs 32 lakh to the agents, but some of their money was returned. During the inquiry, a payment of Rs 17.8 lakh to Ravish and his wife Pooja was proved. We will recover this money after arresting them in the case.”