Chandigarh, August 16
Three friends from Shutrana village in Patiala had dreamt of flying to greener pastures abroad since childhood. Gurbhej Singh, Jagdeep Singh and Sandeep Singh approached Healthyway Immigration in June 2009, which promised them a student visa and easy migration to the UK in just two months. The company took Rs 1.02 lakh from each of them.
Their dreams, however, shattered following police cases against the consultancy firm. These are only three among scores of persons in the region who have been duped by the firm. The UT police has seized 120 forged bank documents during raids at Healthyway Immigration in Sector 42 in the last few days.
“Company agents first took Rs 42,000 from each of us as initial fee. They charged another Rs 50,000 claiming they would arrange fixed deposits in our name or even loan letters to show we have a financial banking worth at least Rs 10 lakh each as per the visa requirement,” said Gurbhej Singh.
“My visa was rejected in March 2010 and the company told me to apply again and that it will take care of all the formalities. It is only when we demanded a complete refund that we came to know about the fraud,” he said. It has been two years and all three of them have lost vital years, besides their parents’ hard-earned money.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Balwinder Singh also lost Rs 1.30 lakh to the company. He lost his father, who worked as a peon in Panjab University, some years ago. His mother toils hard to meet the daily family expenses. Hailing from Hoshiarpur, Balwinder is now reeling under heavy debt as his family lost all its savings seeking migration for him.
The bulk of 120 fake loan letters recovered belong to the Oriental Bank of Commerce branch in Rajpura. When the police verified the documents from the bank, all of them were found to be fake.
The British embassy has now barred them from visiting the UK for the next 10 years.
DSP Ashish Kapoor said the fake loan letters were the reason for the rejection of a large number of visas.
Three friends from Shutrana village in Patiala had dreamt of flying to greener pastures abroad since childhood. Gurbhej Singh, Jagdeep Singh and Sandeep Singh approached Healthyway Immigration in June 2009, which promised them a student visa and easy migration to the UK in just two months. The company took Rs 1.02 lakh from each of them.
Their dreams, however, shattered following police cases against the consultancy firm. These are only three among scores of persons in the region who have been duped by the firm. The UT police has seized 120 forged bank documents during raids at Healthyway Immigration in Sector 42 in the last few days.
“Company agents first took Rs 42,000 from each of us as initial fee. They charged another Rs 50,000 claiming they would arrange fixed deposits in our name or even loan letters to show we have a financial banking worth at least Rs 10 lakh each as per the visa requirement,” said Gurbhej Singh.
“My visa was rejected in March 2010 and the company told me to apply again and that it will take care of all the formalities. It is only when we demanded a complete refund that we came to know about the fraud,” he said. It has been two years and all three of them have lost vital years, besides their parents’ hard-earned money.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Balwinder Singh also lost Rs 1.30 lakh to the company. He lost his father, who worked as a peon in Panjab University, some years ago. His mother toils hard to meet the daily family expenses. Hailing from Hoshiarpur, Balwinder is now reeling under heavy debt as his family lost all its savings seeking migration for him.
“I paid Rs 1.3 lakh to the company in March this year. They told me everything will be taken care of by them,” he said.
Investigating officers said company agents provided fake bank loan letters to their clients to be put before the embassy while applying for visa. As gullible students hailing from remote districts of Punjab fell in their net, company owners laughed all the way to the bank even as scores of visa applications were rejected. The bulk of 120 fake loan letters recovered belong to the Oriental Bank of Commerce branch in Rajpura. When the police verified the documents from the bank, all of them were found to be fake.
The British embassy has now barred them from visiting the UK for the next 10 years.
DSP Ashish Kapoor said the fake loan letters were the reason for the rejection of a large number of visas.
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