iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Amidst ongoing political protests led by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, two cousins from Patiala district, Sandeep Singh and Pradeep Singh, were arrested in connection with a murder case shortly after being deported by the United States.
The two men were among the 116 individuals on the second batch of deportees who arrived in a C-17 aircraft at Amritsar Airport late on Saturday night.
According to police sources, Sandeep and Pradeep were wanted in connection with a murder case registered in Rajpura in June 2023. During the investigation, Pradeep’s name was added to the case as an accomplice of Sandeep.
The cousins were arrested as soon as they landed at the airport.
The family of the deported men expressed shock upon learning of their arrest. “Since January 28, there had been communication with them. It was only on Saturday morning that we came to know that they had been deported. We are stunned,” said Sukhjeet Kaur, a relative.
The family is now grappling with a severe financial crisis. They had spent a total of Rs 90 lakh ($103,753) to send Sandeep and Pradeep to the U.S. through the illegal “dunki” route.
“We paid the money to Daler Singh, a travel agent, from Gurdaspur. We haven’t talked to the agent yet. Sandeep had sold his two acres of land while Pradeep sold one-acre land and his car apart from borrowing money from a private lender,” Sukhjeet Kaur explained.
The two cousins are among the illegal immigrants deported from the US, as part of a broader effort to repatriate individuals living in the country without proper documentation. The first batch of 104 deportees had arrived at Amritsar Airport on February 5.
