Ludhiana, Feb. 19 -- The Meharban police on Tuesday registered a case against five accused, including an ex-sarpanch, on fraud and human trafficking charges for allegedly arranging the US trip of a local who was among the deportees, officials said.

The case was registered after a complaint by Hardeep Kaur, wife of US deportee Gurwinder Singh from Sasrali Colony in Meharban. She alleged the accused facilitated Gurwinder's illegal migration to the US using 'fraudulent' means.

Gurwinder was in the second batch of deportees who reached India on February 15 amid a crackdown on illegal immigrants by the Donald Trump administration. A total of 333 migrants from India, including 156 from Punjab, have been sent back so far.

The first-informatio...