JIND: Ravi, a resident of Haryana’s Jind, faced a 220-day ordeal even after payment of around Rs 35 lakh to an unauthorised travel agent to reach the US.
Of this, Rs 6 lakh was forked out by his family after the 26-year-old was starved in the jungles of Panama and allegedly taken hostage.
Ravi had travelled across ten countries, spent a few months in the jungles, and jumped over a wall to reach the US about 20 days ago, only to be caught and deported.
Ravi’s brother Amit said the agent had promised to send his sibling to the US legally for Rs 29 lakh.
Ravi was first sent to Dubai, where he was kept for several months. In the jungles of Panama, Ravi was not given food for days and spent five-six months facing numerous difficulties.
“When the agent asked for an additional Rs 6 lakh, our father sold our farmland and took out a loan to raise the money. This was then given to the agent,” Amit said.
The family of Ravi, who had dropped out of his BA, named three agents involved behind his ordeal – Deepak Malik, Rajat Mor and Manish Pandit.
Police claimed they had no complaint yet. “If that is done, action will be taken,” said a cop.
Two more young men from Jind, Nishant and Shubham, are expected to be sent back from the US soon.