The family hailed from Dingucha village of Gandhinagar. (File)
A total of three men have been arrested in Gujarat in connection with the case in which four members of a family had frozen to death while attempting to illegally cross into the United States from Canada in January last year, state police said.
The Ahmedabad Crime Branch officials last Saturday arrested Bhavesh Patel, and Yogesh Patel who had been involved in illegally sending 11 people to Canada including the family of four who died in the snow on the US border with Canada on January 19, 2022, in their attempt to cross the border illegally.
The family hailed from Dingucha village of Gandhinagar.
The police arrested a third person identified as Dasarath Chaudhary from Kalol in Gandhinagar for his alleged involvement in the case.
According to the police, the deceased family members were identified as Jagdish Patel (39), Vaishali Patel (37) and their two children namely daughter Vihangi Patel (11) and son Dharmik Patel (3) whose bodies were recovered near Emerson, Manitoba in Canada.
Bhavin Suthar, Ahmedabad Crime Branch Inspector said, "On January 19, 2022, four members of Dingucha's family died of freezing to death while crossing the border from Canada to America. The Gujarat police along with the embassy was investigating the matter. Agent Bhavesh Patel and Yogesh Patel, who sent Dingucha's family abroad, have been arrested by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch."
"Dasarath Chaudhary, who is in the custody of Ahmedabad Crime Branch, has been arrested. He is a resident of Gandhinagar and has been found to be working as a sub-agent for sending illegals abroad," he added.
The official informed that Chaudhary had sent two students named Priyanka and Prince, residents of Kalol to America illegally through Yogesh Patel who was arrested earlier.
"Crime Branch has started an investigation by summoning Mahendra Patel, cousin of deceased Jagdish Patel," the Police Inspector said.
During interrogation, the arrested three men revealed that they received Rs 5 lakh per person for sending people to America illegally.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)