PHAGWARA, June 21— A 23-year-old man from Bhogpur, identified as Jaswinder Singh alias Prince, allegedly died by suicide after being defrauded in an immigration scam that left his family financially and emotionally shattered.
Singh, who was living with his mother at AGI Flats in Khajurla, near Phagwara, reportedly consumed a poisonous substance after learning that the Canada-bound visas he and his mother had received were forged. He died during treatment at a local hospital.
Police said a case under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered against four individuals — Surjit Singh Bhatti of Lahdara village, Jassi of Karam Singh Colony in Bhogpur, Sumit Wadhwa of Sudarshan Park in Maqsudan, Jalandhar, and Rakesh Mattu of Jandihar village under the jurisdiction of Bhogpur police station.
According to the complaint filed by Kuldeep Kaur, the deceased’s mother, the family paid ₹21 lakh to the accused agents with hopes of starting a new life in Canada. “They handed us fake visas, returned our passports, and even managed to fraudulently take our house and car,” she told police.
The fraud reportedly unfolded further when the agents took Jaswinder to Amritsar, booked a flight to Mumbai under the guise of onward travel, and abandoned him midway through the process. When the family tried to reach them, the accused stopped responding.
Distraught by the betrayal, financial ruin, and shattered dreams, Jaswinder allegedly ingested poison. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he could not be saved, police said.
Jaswinder had studied up to Class 10. His father currently resides in England, while his mother, a homemaker, had been spearheading the immigration efforts for both of them.
“This is a deeply tragic case that highlights the human cost of unchecked immigration fraud,” a senior police officer said. “We are pursuing the accused and will ensure justice is delivered.”
The incident has once again underscored the urgent need for public awareness and tighter regulation of immigration consultancies, especially in Punjab’s rural belt where aspirations to settle abroad often meet predatory exploitation.
