A major immigration fraud of Rs.8 million (Rs.80 lakh) was uncovered here, Punjab police said on Sunday.
A complaint was received against an immigration agent Gurbachan Singh Manku, based here, 100 km away from state capital Chandigarh. He had duped around 80 people of Rs.100,000 each on the pretext of sending them abroad, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Yurinder Singh Hayer.
"On the basis of this complaint, we have initiated an inquiry and very soon we will arrest Manku. He is absconding," he said.
Manku had promised the victims of providing them a visa for the UK, according to the complaint.
"We had paid Rs.100,000 each in advance to Manku. After this we had to pay him another Rs.300,000 each after getting the visa. He called us at the UK embassy office in New Delhi on June 6 to collect our passports and visas," said Mahinder Singh, one of the complainants.
"We waited outside the embassy office for the whole day but Manku did not turn up. Since then, his mobile phone is switched off and we do not know anything about his whereabouts," he added.