By our Haryana Bureau Chief
Balwan Sharma, resident of Ahar village, Panipat (Haryana) is a senior BJP worker, who has been accused of committing frauds and duping locals/natives by making false promises of sending them to the States of America through Mexico, Hundurus and some other central American Countries. He has been accused of swindling and attempting to usurp huge amount of money and land from people who want to go to these western countries for settling or are seeking employment. Considerable matter is that victims of Mr. Balwan Sharma has filed complaints with a senior IPS Officer of Haryana Police and Sharma is arrested and in custody. Police has filed its initial complaint in the court and court has granted investigation time to the police and remanded Sharma in police custody for five days to the CIA-3 (Crime Investigation Agency).
According to various reports and sources the accused gave employment assurance to the victims and extracted money out of them. However, there are few who have been sent to the United States but are trapped there and are in custody.
The accused supposedly blinded the youth by the dazzle of dollars they would earn by working and settling there. Balwan Sharma lured them of a better lifestyle in The States than in India. Many such cases are thus popping up against him and have put him in the limelight.
Studying the cases:
The very first case that has come up involves a minor from the village of the accused. Balwan sharma, along with his son and two other people of his village, duped the victim (minor) of 1 acre land, worth 35,00,000 INR and 800,000 INR of hard cash. In U. S. Dollars this amount is equal to around $61,000.00. The case has been filed against the accused at Sadar police station. The village panchayat/government however has done away with the case by making a settlement between both the parties. Legal proceedings are however still in process.
Immediately after this case showed up, Ramesh Kumar of Ahar village also lodged a complaint against Balwan Sharma stating that the accused has been involved in this act since 16 years and he knows him through his father, who is supposedly a friend of him. Ramesh Kumar also mentioned that he knows that Balwan Sharma has sent many people to the United States of America illegally and has even made the offer to his father to send his grandson to the United States for a better and safe future.
The second case is about Salindra and three other youngsters who have accused Balwan Sharma cheating them. Salindra also accused Balwan’s brother Sohan Lal Sharma as a co-conspirer and accused him a part of Balwan’s gang. The money extracted by them amounts to 30,00,000 INR, which is equal to around $43,000.00.
According to the statements put forward by Salindra, one out of the two other victims accompanying him was caught and taken into the custody on the Delhi airport itself. Whereas he, along with the other victims of the fraud namely Deepak took a flight from Delhi airport and travelled further. Thereafter, Deepak and others were deported from Lima (Peru) airport and Salindra alone travelled and reached Ecuador. In Ecuador Salindra was supposed to meet the extended support gang of Balwan Sharma, who were waiting for Salindra’s arrival. After crossing 10 other countries to reach to the the United States of America, his dreamland, when Salindra finally reached Mexico, he was shocked to see 10 other people like him who had to cross the border illegally to enter into The States their final destination.
As soon as they all crossed the border, they scattered and parted to their ways, Salindra was soon caught by the US Border Patrols, which is considered by these complainants as police and was taken into custody and was taken to ICE detention centre, ICE is United States immigration and custom enforcement agency that works under the U. D. Department of Homeland Security.
The very recent case that has come up against Balwan Sharma and his gang involves 16 year old Ankit Sharma of the village Gagseena (District Karnal of Haryana, India). Ankit has filed a complaint against the accused at Matloda police station. The money involved in this case that has been taken by Balwan Sharma amounts to 18,00,000 INR, which is equalling to $26,000.00.
According to the statements given to the police by Ankit, upon reaching Ecuador he met Balwan Sharma’s agent John. He was beaten and abused by John and was forced to stay at a hotel and do manual labor. He was trapped at Ecuador for almost 6 weeks. The victim was then handed over to other agent Max and was sent to Columbia. Before he reached to Mexico, he was physically and sexually abused several times by different agents and was also robbed of all the currency he had. Thereafter he was caught by the police and taken into the custody by US Border Patrol Agents and was handed over to the ICE. In all of these cases of immigration frauds, there are very few girls who have been involved. However, the first girl to cross the border illegally was 7 months pregnant and belonged to Tehsil Camp (Panipat), she crossed the U. S. Borders along with her husband and was a teacher in Panipat, she was arrested and released on humanitarian grounds, because of her pregnancy and her political asylum case is pending in the United States of America. There are more girls from Haryana, who have crossed U. S. Borders to settle there.
Victim Insight:
The cases portray a clear case of illegal immigration and the cases against Balwan Sharma are mushrooming. There are more agents, who mushroom people to send them abroad. It was a trend in Punjab and now it is taking place in Haryana as well. In the past, famous singer Daler Mehandi was also involved and arrested in sending people to the United States of America from Punjab. Till now there are three cases against Balwan Sharma that have been registered and are being under Haryana Police’s investigation considerable matter is that Balwan Sharma is a leader of BJP and in Haryana and Centre the same party rules. There are many more cases coming up but are unregistered. The victims are assuring that Balwan Sharma has been involved in this act since a long time. Everyday many calls have been received by the police with similar accusations, but these callers are not willing to register or file their complaints, because of the strong political presence of the accused.
Our bureau chief went to these villages and spoke to many individuals in Haryana and was told that from Aahar and Kurana villages almost one person from each family is gone abroad and Balwan Sharma has sent them there, who are working and Balwan Sharma is in this business of illegal immigration agentship since many years, but these people spoke on the terms of anonymous and wanted to have their names not to be disclosed.
The victims who have been caught in the United States are unable to seek help from India due to many reasons including that they have crossed the borders of many countries and after entering into the United States they have given their statements to the U. S. Federal Agents (immigration officers) and requested asylum. There are also reports stating that Balwan Sharma is using his political background and dominance to resolve this issue and get a clean chit. There have been reports mentioning blackmailing and threat calls made by the accused to the families of the victims who are trapped in order to cease them to take any action against him.
Balwan Sharma ran unsuccessfully twice for state legislative assembly of Haryana and has made many political appearances with popular BJP leaders and is now being charged and tagged as a ‘Coyote’, a slang popularly used in the United States for a person who smuggles people illegally into the countries.
As the more cases are coming out there are chances for a complete exposure of the story behind this whole illegally border crossing issue. Balwan Sharma’s brother Sohan Lal and son Pradeep have about six acres of land. The police have not been able to arrest Sohan Lal and Pradeep, who were accused by the victims. Balwan’s brother and son were also became part of the matter of this gang after the remand was granted by local judicial court of Balwan Sharma. CIA-3 in-charge Chhabil Singh said that the property of Balwan Sharma, his brother and son are being traced, but according to the reports these properties are not registered in the names of accused. The accused Balwan Sharma will be produced in court for further investigation and remand.
