Deadly US Dreams: Mehsana family borrowed Rs 60 lakh from 11 to reach US

AHMEDABAD: It had taken nine individuals, a cooperative bank and a gold finance firm to send the Chaudharys from Manekpura in Mehsana to the US - the deadly US dreams which met a watery grave on March 30 when the family of four including a couple and their teenage son and daughter got drowned in St Lawrence River on Canada-US border.
An FIR against three agents filed with Vasai police station in Mehsana mentioned that the agents were paid Rs 15 lakh for each individual.
The FIR mentioned that Ashwin Chaudhary, younger brother of deceased Pravin Chaudhary, got Rs 7 lakh from Nagrik Bank of Gozaria, Rs 6 lakh from IIFL Gozaria against gold deposit, and Rs 5 lakh each from nine individuals - all of them close family relatives like cousins and uncles.
Ashwin shelled out Rs 2 lakh to complete the figure of Rs 60 lakh. The details, according to investigators, give a peek into the financing system for the illegal immigration racket rampant in some parts of central Gujarat.
The money, according to the FIR, was raised in a matter of 12 days. After the initial deal on March 11, the money was handed over to the two accused including Nikulsinh Vihol and Arjunsinh Chavda on March 23.
It is the third FIR in Gujarat after the accused in an illegal immigration racket where the agents involved from the state are booked under IPC section 304 related to causing death by negligence. All three accused in the FIR are absconding, said investigators.