The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases against five alleged human trafficking agents who duped people on the pretext of getting them jobs in the United States and Europe. One of the applicants, who was arrested by the US military while attempting to enter the country illegally, was deported to India on 16 February.
In the first case, the agency named Balwinder Singh of Karnal in Haryana, his brother-in-law Sahib Singh and friend Amrit Singh. The accused allegedly promised jobs in the US and facilitated illegal entry through human traffickers.
According to government data, the US deported 1,703 Indian citizens to India between January 20 and July 22, 2025, including 1,562 men and 141 women. Of these, 620 were from Punjab, 604 from Haryana, 245 from Gujarat, 38 from Uttar Pradesh, 26 from Goa, 20 each from Maharashtra and Delhi, 19 from Telangana, 17 from Tamil Nadu and 12 each from Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Ten each were from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, eight from Kerala, seven each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, six from West Bengal, five from Karnataka and one each from Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. Six were listed as “unknown”.
The CBI came across one victim, Ravinder Singh, who was deported by US authorities in February. In his complaint, he alleged that in 2024-25, Balwinder Singh and others forced him to pay ₹25 lakh to legally enter the US and work in home goods. In January, the amount was paid in cash and through banking channels.
The accused and others allegedly put him up in a hotel in Delhi and gave him a plane ticket to Cairo, Egypt. He was then reportedly “transported, housed, transported” and finally received in Managua, Nicaragua. He was allegedly physically and mentally abused and exploited abroad. He was arrested by the US military while trying to enter the country “illegally” and was deported to India.
In the second case, accused Manoj Panwar and his younger brother Anuj Panwar from Bhiwani in Haryana have been named. “Unscrupulous travel agencies” allegedly offered better jobs in Europe to extract money from people. The CBI has identified two such victims as Navdeep and Ashish.
The victims learned about Agent Manoj through two others. He met with them in October 2024 and offered to arrange their travels and work in different countries. The accused eventually got them to agree to legally travel to Luxembourg for warehouse work at a salary of €2,675, paying ₹14.5 million each. The agent allegedly took ₹1 lakh in cash per head in advance.
A few days later, Anuj allegedly informed them that Luxembourg work visas could not be processed and that they would have to go to Germany. In February 2025, the victims were sent to Mumbai on their next journey to Denmark, where they had to stop for 10 days due to lack of proper travel documents. They were then told that they would be sent to Germany via Kazakhstan.
Subsequently, the victims visited Delhi on 21 March and were taken to a hotel in Mahipalpur where they were given passports and tickets from Delhi to Almaty for a flight the following day. Upon arrival in Almaty, a foreign associate allegedly took their passports under the pretext of obtaining Schengen visas, but no visas or other travel documents were provided. Their arrival visa to Kazakhstan expired on April 6.
According to Manoj’s alleged instructions, the victims were moved to new accommodation where they were kept and forced to perform menial jobs such as cleaning toilets, mopping and sweeping flats. Sometimes they didn’t get proper food.
Then, it was alleged, Manoj sent a photo of the Schengen visa over WhatsApp and demanded ₹14.5 lakh from each victim, saying that their passports would be returned only after payment. “Leaving no choice, the family members of both the victims paid ₹4 million each in cash to accused Anuj Panwar. Even after receiving the payment, the accused did not return their passports or provide any travel documents for onward travel and also stopped picking up their calls,” First Information Report said.
In the intervening period, the victims allegedly suffered a financial loss of around ₹ 3.75 lakh each. Finally, on June 18, they filed a complaint about the missing passports with the local police station in Almaty. They then approached the Indian embassy and were issued emergency certificates and deportation papers, after which they returned to India on 6 July.
Published – 16 Dec 2025 20:48 IST
