Two Punjab youths among 12 Indians land in Armenian jail
JALANDHAR : Duped by travel agents, 12 Indian youth, including two each from Punjab and Haryana, have been stranded in an Armenian jail for the past over three months.
They were caught while crossing the Armenia-Georgia border illegally in March and were arrested by the Armenian border police force. The matter came to light after the families of the victims approached Rajya Sabha member Balbir Singh Seechewal to take up the matter of their release with the Indian Embassy.
The victims, who had no contact with their families back in India, somehow managed to send video message to their family members and informed them about their arrest.
So far, only seven of the victims have been identified. They are Ram Pal from Panjgrain village in Ludhiana, Ranjot Singh of Seesan village in Patiala, Gurmeet Singh and Shivam Kumar from Haryana, Major Singh from Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand, Happy Singh from Pilibhit and Maniruzzama from West
Bengal.
Gurjant Singh, Ranjot’s brother, said a Samana-based travel agent took Rs 7 lakh from his brother on the pretext of sending him to Romania on a work permit, but his brother was taken to Armenia where the local agent directed him to cross the Georgia border illegally to reach Romania.
“My brother was caught while crossing the Georgia border in March and has been put behind bars since then. The travel agent had refused to offer any help and had stopped responding to calls,” he said. Victim Ram Pal’s brother Roshan Lal said his brother was promised a visa to Italy, but a Haryana-based travel agent asked his brother to first visit Armenia and then cross Georgia border to reach Italy via Romania illegally.
“We had paid Rs 7 lakh to the travel agent for an Italian work permit, but my brother was lodged in an Armenian jail for the past three months,” he said.
Seechewal said he has contacted the ministry of external affairs and the Indian embassy. He said the ministry of external affairs had started efforts for the release of these youths.