Mohali, April 21:The Mohali police today arrested the key accused in an alleged Rs 10-crore international racket that left hundreds of state youth duped of lakhs of rupees each in the name of providing them jobs in Canada.
Accused Satpal Singh, alias Harshdeep, had been on the run since November 2015 after the police registered 69 FIRs against him across the state following complaints. The accused was the managing director of Worldtrek Education Consultants Private Limited and Creative Placements Consultants Private Limited.The firms started operations in 2012, but shut shop overnight a year later. The police registered FIRs only after victims proved through documents procured under the Right to Information Act that Satpal used different identities. However, despite the registration of such a large number of FIRs, the cops had failed to arrest him so far.
SSP HS Bhullar said the accused was declared a proclaimed offender two years ago. “We are running a special campaign to catch POs to crack pending cases,” he said.The accused was sent to Patiala Central Jail on judicial remand today.
Satpal allegedly offered “assured” jobs in two different companies in Canada on work permit visa and charged about Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh from every applicant.
One of the duped youth, Baljinder Singh, said he and his wife Rupinder Kaur had paid him several lakhs for immigration and a job abroad. “There are hundreds of others in Punjab who gave money to him. The accused showed us appointment letters, but after he vanished, we came to know that those companies did not exist in Canada. “Ëven the consultancy firm he operated here was run on dubious documents, which we unearthed through the Right to Information Act,” Baljinder said.
According to the FIRs, people were duped by Satpal Singh and Ruby Sharma, managing directors of the two firms.
