NIA files chargesheet against 2 traffickers in donkey route case
The NIA has charged two men with human trafficking, linked to an illegal immigration racket sending Indians to the US. Over 2,400 have been deported.
Seven months after initiating a probe into the illegal immigration racket, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against two persons involved in sending Indian citizens to the United States through the donkey route.
As many as 2,417 Indians, 60% of them from Punjab, have been deported from the US since the Donald Trump administration cracked down on illegal immigrants in January.
The NIA spokesperson said the duo, Sunny of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and Shubham Sandhal of Peeragardh in New Delhi, have been charged with illegal human trafficking and cheating. The duo was arrested in July this year, around three months after the arrest of the main accused, Gagandeep Singh, alias Goldy, from Tilak Nagar in New Delhi.
The NIA initiated investigation into the matter after Punjab Police registered the case on February 18 under Section 318 (cheating) of the BNS and other sections of Punjab Travel Professionals (Regulation) Act, 2014, at Goindwal police station in Tarn Taran district.
“The NIA, which took over the case from the Punjab Police in March this year, found during investigation that Sunny was a ‘donkar’ actively involved in human trafficking via the ‘donkey’ route. While he was based in Mexico from 2021-23, he connived with Goldy and others to facilitate illegal border crossings and unlawfully detaining the victims. He received payments through hawala (illegal channel) transactions and bank transfers,” the agency said.
It said even after returning to India in 2023, he continued coordinating logistics, managing hawala transactions, and directly sending aspirants via the donkey route.
Another accused, Shubham Sandhal, a Delhi-based hawala agent, was mainly engaged in facilitating illegal fund transfers for the human trafficking syndicate, led by Goldy and his accomplices.
“Agency investigations found Shubham collected money from Indian clients and remitted it abroad using the hawala network. His role was to smoothly manage and move the illicit funds across India, Mexico and the US as part of the illegal immigration racket,” the NIA official said.
An official said the central agency has been continuing with its investigation against other accused in the case, and is also working to dismantle similar illegal trafficking syndicates involved in cheating and exploiting innocent people with false promises of legal visa.
Investigations found that each deportee had paid between ₹30- ₹45 lakh to travel agents, who they had never met in person but were connected to through local contacts.
The agency found that the fraudulent travel agents and their middlemen had amassed significant movable and immovable properties from proceeds of the crime. “Most of them operated clandestinely, keeping their businesses away from public scrutiny,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
Punjab Police had registered more than 15 FIRs on the statements of US deportees. Moreover, the Enforcement Directorate has also been investigating the money trail into the whole nexus.
