JALANDHAR: The wife of a man from a village in Jalandhar district of Punjab who reached the US via the 'dunki route' in 1998, has been booked for attempting to get his 'death certificate' by making false claims. The village sarpanch and a panchayat member have also been booked as they had submitted untrue statements regarding his "death and cremation in the village".
They attempted this fraud when the emigrant, Kuldeep Singh, had never returned to India in 27 years due to his inability to get permanent residency in the US. His two sons had also emigrated, one to the US and the other to the Philippines.
In his complaint to the police on April 22, local resident Sanveer Singh said that his uncle, Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Naugaja village, went to the US using the 'dunki route' and could not come back after that.
Man sent video to prove he was aliveSanveer mentioned that his uncle’s son, Gurjit Singh, was in the US and his second son Maninder Singh was living in the Philippines.
Sanveer also said in his complaint: “My aunt, Kamaljit Kaur, was initially living with her brother in Phagwara, and in 2023-24 she went to the US. My uncle has two plots, one in Naugaja village and the other at Pathankot bypass.
In March 2025, my aunt returned from the US and she prepared a false document for the transfer of ownership of the plot situated in Naugaja village, by claiming that that my uncle, Kuldeep Singh, had died.”
He further alleged that Kamaljit, in connivance with panchayat member Sukhdev Singh and sarpanch Suman, tried to get a death certificate for Kuldeep. They even submitted false ‘self-declarations’ declaring that had Kuldeep died on March 25, 2010, and was cremated in the cremation ground of Naugaja.
When Kuldeep came to know of this, he sent a freshly recorded video from the US, which Sanveer handed over to the police.
The first information report (FIR) also mentioned that prominent villagers confirmed to the police that the video was that of Kuldeep, and that he was living in the US.
After the inquiry, police registered a FIR under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on May 12 for criminal conspiracy, forgery, and cheating against Kamaljit Kaur, sarpanch Suman, and panchayat member Sukhdev Singh.
IP Singh is Senior Assistant Editor at The Times of India. He cov...
Read MoreIP Singh is Senior Assistant Editor at The Times of India. He covers news in Jalandhar and neighbouring districts, and writes on politics, contemporary trends, Punjabi diaspora and heritage preservation. He specializes in deciphering religio-political peculiarities and complexities of Punjab. His hobbies include reading up on a variety of subjects.
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