Former National Kabaddi Player Maninder Pal Singh Arrested for Running Immigration Racket

A former national kabaddi player, Maninder Pal Singh has been arrested by the IGI Airport police for allegedly running an illegal immigration racket. The 42-year-old, a resident of Talwandi Chaudhrian village in Punjab’s Kapurthala district, was reportedly facilitating unauthorized journeys to the United States using fraudulent means.

The racket came to light when Maninder Pal Singh, a 20-year-old deportee from Jalandhar, was intercepted at IGI Airport on December 14 for tampering with his passport. According to officials, Maninder’s passport had missing pages containing fake visas and immigration stamps, which raised suspicions. Upon questioning, he revealed that Mandeep Singh had assured him of illegal passage to the United States for a sum of ₹41 lakh.

The travel, which included fake documents, was planned by a circuitous route that would take him to Kazakhstan, Dubai, Senegal, Libya, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. Maninder had followed the instructions of Mandeep by removing the tampered passport pages, but the U.S. authorities were smart enough to identify the fraud and deported him.

The police said that Mandeep Singh was running his illegal activities under the cover of an IELTS coaching centre in Kapurthala. He was a physical training teacher in the government, but he used his network to run the racket, tempted by the promise of easy money.

“A team was formed, and Mandeep was caught from Moga,” said an officer. “A licensed pistol was also recovered from his possession. He confessed to being involved in the scam during interrogation.”

Mandeep’s background adds another layer of shock to the case. Once a celebrated national kabaddi player and a handball player during his school years, he later pursued higher education and secured a teaching job. However, the promise of easy wealth led him astray, police said.

Investigations are presently being carried on the scope of the racket as well as determining other individuals implicated in or become victims of this scheme.