US deportee files case against Punjab farm union leader Sukhwinder Singh for duping him of Rs 45 lakh

The FIR against Gill, his mother Pritam Kaur, relative Talwinder Singh and one Gurpreet Singh was registered at Moga’s Dharamkot police station under sections 143, 318(4), 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 24 of The Emigration Act.

Gill’s phone was switched off, and he could not be contacted for comment.

According to the FIR, Gill and his family run a travel agency named Fateh Immigration in Dharamkot. Jaswinder alleged that when he consulted Gill about his plans to move abroad, Gill said that he would send him to America legally via flight and would also arrange his work permit for three years. Gill demanded Rs 45 lakh for the job, as per the FIR.

Jaswinder further stated that to arrange the amount, his father Sukhdev Singh sold their ancestral land measuring 1 kila 5 kanal for Rs 40 lakh. He alleged that he handed over Rs 30 lakh in cash to Gill in the presence of his mother Pritam Kaur and Talwinder Singh.

As per the FIR, in November 2024, Gill took Jaswinder to an office in Chandigarh’s Elante Mall, which he claimed was the “US embassy’s office”, where he was allegedly asked to submit some documents and pay Rs 14,000 as ‘fees’.

After some days, Gill allegedly informed him that his US visa had arrived and he had to board a flight from Delhi on December 12, 2024, the FIR quotes Jaswinder as saying. He added that it was only after he reached Prague (Czech Republic) that he got to know that he was given a Schengen visa, not a US one.

Jaswinder alleged that till December 30, 2024, he was kept captive at a hotel in Prague by Gill’s aides, who demanded more money and made him speak to Gill on WhatsApp calls. Jaswinder said that he was told to transfer the pending amount to the account of M/S Ekam Travels, owned by one Gurpreet Singh. In his complaint, Jaswinder said that his family transferred Rs 4 lakh to Gurpreet’s account. This was followed by two more transactions of Rs 2 lakh each, which Jaswinder’s father allegedly transferred into the account.

After the money was transferred, Jaswinder was made to board a flight from Prague to Spain, as per the FIR. After reaching Spain, Jaswinder’s family was allegedly asked to pay Rs 3.50 lakh more, and after receiving another tranche, the agents made him board a flight to El Salvador.

Jaswinder alleged that he was taken to a hotel by ‘donkers’ (an informal term for aides of agents who take illegal immigrants through several countries) who knew Gill and already had his (Jaswinder’s) photograph. He further alleged that the ‘donkers’ thrashed him in the hotel and also snatched $2,725 from him.

The FIR says Jaswinder took the usual ‘dunki’ route via Panama and travelled via boats, taxis and buses to reach the US-Mexico border on January 27, where he was arrested after crossing the border illegally and deported on February 13.

“BKU leader Sukh Gill and his family members run this immigration firm, as per the complainant. The FIR has been registered, and a probe has been started to ascertain facts as per the complainant’s statement,” Inspector Jatinder Singh, Station House Officer, Dharamkot police station, said.