Chandigarh, Feb 7 (IANS) To combat and investigate the illegal human trafficking and illegal migration arising from the deportation of Indians domiciled in Punjab from the US, Punjab Police on Friday constituted a four-member fact-finding committee.
Announcing this, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the four-member SIT has been constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Director General of Police (NRI Affairs) Praveen Sinha.
The members of the SIT include ADGP (Internal Security) Shive Kumar Verma, IGP (Provisioning) S. Boopathi and DIG (Border Range) Range Satinder Singh.
The SIT will focus on identifying the individuals involved in these illegal activities and ensuring they are held accountable for their actions, besides identifying the people involved in the illegal activities.
DGP Yadav said the SIT has been directed to take appropriate action as per law and facts and take action against any person found involved in committing illegalities and indulging in illegal migration and human trafficking.
He said the SIT has been empowered to co-opt any other police officer in the inquiry and investigation.
They will maintain coordination with the Senior Superintendents of Police and Commissioners of Police concerned, who have been directed to provide all required assistance and infrastructural facilities to it, he added.
He said this collaborative effort is aimed at ensuring a comprehensive and effective investigation into illegal migration. The SIT is tasked with conducting an inquiry to uncover the facts, identify those responsible, and recommend measures to combat illegal migration.
A US military aircraft carrying the first batch of 104 illegal Indian immigrants, with the highest number of 33 each from Haryana and Gujarat, reached Amritsar in Punjab on February 5.
A total of 30 deportees were residents of Punjab.
The US military C-17 aircraft landed at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport amid tight security.
Three each are from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, while two are from Chandigarh. The deportees include 25 women and 12 minors, with the youngest passenger being just four years old.
Forty-eight people are below the age of 25.
The flight, which took off from Texas on Tuesday, also carried 11 crew members and 45 US officials overseeing the deportation process.
A senior Punjab official said that most deportees from the state belong to Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Patiala, Mohali and Sangrur.
Some of them had entered the US illegally, while others overstayed their visas. They were deported on the C-17 plane that took off from San Antonio, Texas.
This was the first round of deportation of illegal immigrants that coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington next week.
This will be PM Modi's first visit after Donald Trump took over as US President for the second time.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar had earlier said that New Delhi is open to the "legitimate return" of Indian nationals living illegally abroad, including in the US.
India has expressed readiness to accept these migrants, post-verification, EAM Jaishankar conveyed this to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month.
"For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came," President Trump told reporters last month.
