Indian authorities have begun probing alleged connections between various Canadian colleges and two entities in Mumbai, suspected of unlawfully transporting students across the Canada-U.S. border. India’s Enforcement Directorate announced that a multi-city search unveiled evidence pointing to human trafficking activities, although these claims have yet to be verified in court. No immediate responses were received from Canada’s federal government, the RCMP, or the Indian high commission in Ottawa regarding the allegations. Similarly, the U.S. embassy declined to comment.
The investigation was triggered by the tragic discovery of the bodies of Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, his wife, and two children near a Manitoba-U.S. border crossing on January 19, 2022. Recently, a jury in Minnesota convicted Steve Shand from Florida and Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national, for smuggling unauthorized individuals into the U.S. and profiting from it. Harshkumar Patel orchestrated an elaborate scheme, while Shand served as a driver, intending to transport 11 Indian migrants across the border, of whom only seven survived the treacherous journey. The Patel family succumbed to the severe cold during the crossing.
The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation was spurred by allegations against Bhavesh Ashokbhai Patel, accused of facilitating the Patel family’s border crossing for fees ranging from $93,000 to $102,000 per person. Dubbed the Dingucha case, after the family’s village in Gujarat, India, the investigation has now expanded to include searches across eight locations in Mumbai, Nagpur, Gandhinagar, and Vadodara. The directorate alleges that Bhavesh Ashokbhai Patel helped students, like those lost at the border, gain admissions to Canadian colleges as a cover for obtaining student visas, which were later used to illegally enter the U.S.
According to the agency, students purportedly avoided attending the Canadian colleges, and their admissions fees were eventually refunded. The probe suggests that one entity, connected to the network, had referred approximately 25,000 students annually to educational institutions outside India, while another handled over 10,000 referrals. This expansive network involved about 1,700 agents in Gujarat and around 3,500 across India, with 800 still reportedly active.
The agency claims that agreements exist between around 112 Canadian colleges and one entity, while another entity has connections with more than 150 colleges, though it remains unclear whether any colleges are linked to both entities.
Anil Pratham, a retired high-ranking police official in Gujarat, played a key role in the initial investigations, scrutinizing documents used by students to apply for international study. Collaborating with local community societies, police gathered vital information leading to the current expansive probe. Pratham urges aspiring international students to pursue legal avenues for study or work abroad.
This investigation unfolds amid heightened tensions between Canada and the U.S. over border security and amid strained diplomatic ties with India. These tensions have been exacerbated by U.S. demands for improved border controls and Canada’s expulsion of several Indian diplomats, whom they accused of intelligence-gathering activities targeting Sikh activists in Canada. The diplomatic friction also touches on India’s alleged operations against Sikh separatists advocating for an independent Khalistan within India, claims that New Delhi staunchly denies.
