CHOOHARWALI (JALANDHAR): Before he was captured and killed by
IS militants in Iraq,
Surjit Manika fell prey to an illegal immigration agent who promised to send him to Kuwait. Instead of sending Surjit, who hails from Jalandhar's Chooharwali village, to Kuwait, the agent sent him to the strife-torn country where he breathed his last.
Surjit's remains, flown in from Iraq a day before, were consigned to flames on Tuesday morning at his native village. However, even as his family grieves his loss, news of which came after a long, painful wait, the money
Surjit took on loan before leaving for Iraq is yet to be paid.
Worse, the agent who sent him abroad never paid back a single rupee, even after duping Surjit twice, claimed his family members after the cremation.
With a loan still staring at her and having lost her home also along with her husband, Ushra Rani says there appears no end to her pains. "The
travel agent cheated him twice. The first time, Surjit was to be sent to Afghanistan, but he was sent to Dubai and was told that he would be sent to Afghanistan from there. But then he was left stranded in Dubai. After he returned, he tried to get his money back, but he was told that he would be sent to Kuwait, but was sent to Iraq instead," said Surjit's brother Om Parkash.
To repay the loan, Usha sold Surjit's share of the ancestral house, but faces a loan even now. "She has been living with our families," added Parkash.
In a complaint to Jalandhar (rural) senior superintendent of police (SSP) on January 15, 2013, a copy of which is available with TOI, Surjit had alleged that he was cheated of Rs 2.65 lakh by a travel agent. He had alleged that the agent told him that he could be sent to Afghanistan, where he would get a monthly salary of US$1,500.
The travel agent and his associate came to the family house and took Rs 2.5 lakh. On August 14, 2012, Surjit was sent to Dubai, from where he was to be flown to Afghanistan, it was alleged. "I was made to stay there for three months and my visa for Dubai had expired. I had to beg in Dubai to feed myself and had to sleep on streets. The agent stopped taking our calls and finally took Rs 15,000 more to get me back," he alleges in the complaint.
Surjit alleged that his father died due to stress on December 26, 2012. "Lenders were demanding money and the agent was not returning it," he had said in the complaint, adding "please get my money back, so that I can repay the loans and suitable action is taken against the agent".
However, the inquiry report prepared by the anti-human trafficking cell of Punjab Police on February 18, 2013, concluded that it could not be proved that the money was paid to the person named in the complaint or not.
