Gujarat youth illegally went to US to pay off debts

AHMEDABAD: Varshil Dhobi could find no peace at home. His uncle had borrowed a lot of money before illegally immigrating to Spain. A steady stream of moneylenders arrived at his home, asking his father to repay the debts his uncle had incurred. After much thought, the 22-year-old from Kalol came up with a solution to help his father: illegal immigration.
As luck would have it, he was among the 11 caught while illegally crossing the Canada border into the US on January 19, 2022. "The police found diapers, toys and medicines in his bag, which led them to hunt for Jagdish Patel and his family, whose bodies were found frozen to death about 12m from the border," said investigators looking into human smuggling rackets.
Varshil was named as an accused by CID (crime) in an FIR dated October 14, 2022. He has been charged with forging documents and criminal conspiracy as he had fraudulently reproduced papers to travel to the US. An investigation by the city crime branch revealed Varshil had travelled to the US illegally to earn money and pay off his father Pankaj's debts.
"Pankaj runs a dry-cleaning and ironing shop. His brother Prakash, who had a wife and disabled child, did petty jobs to earn a living. In 2015, Prakash took loans totalling Rs 10 lakh from several moneylenders and fled to Spain," said a police officer.
Meanwhile, Prakash's wife died suddenly, and Pankaj began caring for his brother's child. "Soon, recovery agents and moneylenders began harassing Pankaj for the money his brother had borrowed. One of Varshil's friends, who was planning to immigrate to the US illegally, asked him to try his luck in the US.
Varshil told his father that he wanted to go to the US to earn money and repay the debts," said a police officer. He added, "Pankaj met Bhavesh Patel, an agent from Kalol, and struck a deal for Rs 65 lakh, of which Rs 30 lakh had to be paid in advance.
Pankaj borrowed the money from his friends and relatives and gave it to Bhavesh, who arranged for forged Class 10 and Class 12 marksheets as well as certificates from International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Programme (CELPIP) needed to gain admission to Canadian universities."
The forged documents were used to help Varshil secure admission to Loyalist College in the Ontario area of Canada, said the police officer, adding: "He never attended a class as he intended to cross over to the US as soon as possible."
On January 19, homeland security officers in the US caught Varshil and the others in his group. "On finding children's clothes, diapers, toys, and medication, the cops questioned the group.
Dhobi told them that Jagdish Patel and his family, who were part of the group, separated during the night. He said he had no idea where the family was. The four were later found frozen to death near Emerson, Manitoba," said another police officer.
"Pankaj said the agent assured him that he would get Varshil released. We have traced Varshil's last location to Chicago," said the police.