2nd batch of US deportees also chained on-board flight

The second US military aircraft carrying deported Indian migrants landed in Amritsar late on Saturday with 117 people in shackles, those who were on board said on Sunday, describing conditions that government officials previously said would be raised with their American counterparts.

- Surjit Singh

"Our legs were chained and hands were also cuffed," Harjit Singh told reporters at his village Khanowal Bohri in Gurdaspur district, describing how he and his cousin Harjot Singh were among those deported. He said they were "badly thrashed in jungles of Panama" and forced at gunpoint by mafia members during their journey.

The C-17 Globemaster jet landed around 11.30pm carrying 65 people from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, two each from Uttar Pradesh. Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

The cousins' journey, costing ₹45 lakh each, began on October 13 last year. "We sold out our 3 acre agrarian land, a residential plot and a car and got loan to arrange 90 lakh to make payment of the agent who is resident of nearby town Kalanaur and currently residing in US," Harjit said. They finally crossed the US border on January 27.