Like thousands of Indians, Surinderpal Singh Pali, 38, of Kalyanpur village in the State of Punjab had a burning desire to go to Canada.

But his passage to a new world, ended in murder.

Now Punjab police say that he was the victim of a kidnapping gang that preyed on those wanting to immigrate to Canada.

But unlike other similar criminal enterprises which would cheat the wannabe-migrant, this one held them captive for ransom. When the money from the family does not come, they killed their captives.

Police in the town of Hoshiapur, Punjab said they have arrested two men from the neighbouring state of Haryana, in connection with the murder of Surinderpal Singh Pali last December 6th.

His body was found in Bengaluru in Southern India, where he was being held hostage.

Police said their initial investigations show that two men arrested - Paras Ram and Sumit – were part of a gang of criminals who would take youths desperate to go abroad and extort money from them and their families after keeping them in confinement.

In Pali’s case, he left his family home on December 3, after his handlers had promised to send him to Canada and assured him that he could pay about CAD$40,000 to them on reaching there.

However, his handlers took him to the southern Indian state of Bengaluru where the held him captive and demanded he call his family for the money.

When he refused, he was beaten to death and his body left on the streets.

According to police, the two men arrested have revealed the names of other gang members operating in other Indian cities.

“They have disclosed that they have 8-10 members and they lure Punjabi youth by promising to send them to Canada. Once the youth are with them, the accused take them to different locations in the country and extort money from their families,” said a police spokesman.

Another Punjabi youth identified as Mani said he too was a victim of the gang.

He was released after his family paid about CAD$40,000 to the gang.

A third victim, identified as Jatinder Kumar, a youth from Ballowal village of Nawanshahr district of Punjab also revealed that he was taken to another state on a similar pretext.

His family agreed to pay about CAD $20,000 to the kidnappers. However, he managed to escape from the clutches of criminals on December 21. Fake immigration scams are rife in India, especially in Punjab.