Chandigarh, Feb 15 (IANS): Amidst the political protest by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, two cousin brothers from the state in Patiala district, who were among 116 people deported by the US in a C-17 aircraft that landed in the second batch at the Amritsar airport, were arrested in connection with a murder case, police said on Sunday.

Police sources said Sandeep Singh and Pradeep Singh, who were wanted in a murder case registered in 2023, were arrested from the Amritsar airport at the time of their landing on Saturday late night.

A case against Sandeep and four others was registered in Rajpura town in June 2023. During the investigation, the name of Pradeep, another accomplice of Sandeep, was added to the case.

In Sandeep and Pradeep’s case, their US dream was cut short.

“Since January 28, there had been communication with them. It was only on Saturday morning that we came to know that they had been deported. We are stunned,” said Sukhjeet Kaur.

The family is now starting a huge financial crisis. For sending Harjeet and Harjot to the US through the illegal dunki route, the family had spent Rs 90 lakh.

“We paid the money to Daler Singh, a travel agent, from Gurdaspur. We haven’t talked to the agent yet. Harjeet had sold his two acres of land while Harjot sold one-acre land and his car apart from borrowing money from a private lender,” said Sukhjeet Kaur.

The cousins are among the 119 illegal immigrants who were deported in Amritsar airport on Saturday in a military aircraft after being deported from the US.

Previously, the first US plane carrying 104 Indians had landed at Amritsar airport on February 5.