A US military plane carrying 119 Indian deportees landed in Amritsar on Saturday. Among them, two cousins, Sandeep and Pradeep, were immediately arrested by the Punjab Police as they were wanted in a murder case back in India.
Arrest at Amritsar Airport
Sandeep and Pradeep, both from Rajpura in Punjab’s Patiala district, were accused in a 2023 murder case. The Patiala police had already declared them proclaimed offenders. As soon as they landed at Sri Guru Ramdas Airport, a police team took them into custody.
According to officials, the two were booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), and 149 (unlawful assembly). However, no Look Out Circular had been issued against them.
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Deportation Crackdown in the US
This was the second batch of Indian deportees sent back after a crackdown on illegal immigration in the US. The plane carried 119 individuals, with 67 from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, 8 from Gujarat, 3 from Uttar Pradesh, 2 each from Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and 1 each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
Punjab CM’s Concerns
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann voiced his concerns over Amritsar being used as a landing point for deportation flights. “Do not make our holy city a deport center… Amritsar is known for the Golden Temple, Durgiana Mandir, and Jallianwala Bagh. Would they allow such flights to land in Vatican City if deportees were from there?” he questioned.
The first batch of 104 deportees had also landed in Amritsar on February 5.
