8 held for robbing 2 Punjab bros lured to city for US visas

MUMBAI: Police recently arrested eight members of a gang, including three travel agents, for allegedly kidnapping two brothers from Punjab and robbing them of their gold chains, foreign currencies, and clothes with a combined value of Rs 11.29 lakh. Saki Naka police said the two brothers - Abhishek Kumar (24) and Himanshu Kumar - were thrown out of the car on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway after being robbed.They were called to Mumbai on the pretext of introducing them to the immigration officials to get visas stamped to travel to the US.
After their interrogation, the police learned the gang had earlier duped at least two people in a similar manner. The two victims in the earlier case were called to Kurla and Andheri before being robbed.
In the latest case, the three travel agents - Delhi resident Himanshu Gupta (23), Saurabh Kharat (25) from Pune and Karan Verma (24) from Haryana - and their five accomplices from Pune planned the offence after the two brothers (both students) got in touch with the travel agent Gupta to get a US visa. Explaining the modus operandi, the Saki Naka police officer said, "The gang makes their targeted victims travel to Mumbai so that they will not suspect their motives." The incident happened on December 6. The gang kidnapped the two brothers from outside a Saki Naka hotel where they were staying around 7.20pm. After they were robbed and dumped on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, the brothers with the help of some motorists, managed to reach Saki Naka and filed a complaint on December 7.
In the complaint, Kumar brothers said: "We got in touch with the Delhi agent for getting the visa. He asked me to travel to Mumbai. We were asked to carry 10,000 US dollars."
The eight accused have been booked for robbery, dacoity, and abduction. They have been remanded to police custody till December 14.