New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate said its Jalandhar Zonal Office arrested Delhi-based ticketing and travel agent Tarun Khosla on October 23, 2026, in a money-laundering case concerning the alleged ‘Dunkey Route’ illegal immigration network. A Special PMLA Court granted the agency his custody until October 30, according to ED.
The investigation is based on FIRs registered by Punjab and Haryana Police under criminal and emigration laws after more than 300 Indians were deported from the United States in February 2025 for allegedly entering through the Mexico border, the agency said.
Tarun Khosla’s alleged role in visas and border routes
ED alleges that agents and middlemen promised people legal travel to the US but instead sent them through dangerous, illegal routes across South and Central American countries with the help of local intermediaries known as ‘donkers’. People were charged about ₹30 lakh to ₹60 lakh, according to the release.
The agency alleges that agents in Punjab and Haryana collected passports and money and handed them to Khosla in Delhi. It said he arranged visas and tickets for transit countries including Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and El Salvador, helped organise onward movement towards the US border and played a role in deciding routes and prices.
Chats recovered from seized mobile phones allegedly showed coordination with foreign contacts for immigration clearance, airline tickets, passenger handling and payments in US dollars. ED also alleges that he arranged fake or forged yellow-fever vaccination certificates.
Cash deposits and earlier searches
ED said bank records showed cash deposits totalling ₹30.38 crore through 414 transactions in the account of Khosla’s proprietorship, BI International, between financial years 2022–23 and 2024–25.
During searches across Punjab, Haryana and Delhi on December 18 and 19, 2025, the agency said it seized ₹4.62 crore in cash, about 5.9 kg of gold and about 313 kg of silver bars from Khosla’s premises. ED put the combined value of this cash and precious metal at ₹19.14 crore. More than 50 original passports belonging to third parties, transaction records, property documents and digital devices were also recovered, it said.
The release also records searches at 19 locations on July 9 and 11, 2025, which ED said yielded documents, digital material and bogus immigration and visa stamps relating to Nicaragua and Ethiopia. An earlier provisional attachment dated December 15, 2025, covered assets worth approximately ₹5.41 crore in the wider investigation.
ED alleges that the network organised end-to-end illegal travel and earned commissions over several years. Further investigation is continuing.
