Fresno, CA, October 27, 2004
Jerry Bier / The Fresno Bee

A Fresno man married his sister while his wife married his brother as part of a phony wedding scheme so the man's siblings could evade immigration waiting periods, according to a federal indictment.

The grand jury indictment, which cites multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud and misuse of visas, was unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court here naming Harbans Kaur Hothi, 51, and her husband, Paramjit Singh Taggar, 44, along with his brother, Gurdeep Singh Atwal, 43, and sister, Pritam Kaur, 35, as defendants.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Gappa, who is prosecuting the case, said the normal waiting period to immigrate to the United States from India for a brother or sister of a U.S. citizen is 13 years. There is no waiting period for a spouse.

Hothi and Taggar are naturalized United States citizens.

The indictment accuses the couple of lying about the marriages in order to have them immediately immigrate to the United States from India. The brother, Atwal, who lives in Fresno, and the sister, Kaur, who lives in San Jose, had been on a fast-track program for U.S. citizenship when the alleged fraud was uncovered, investigators said.

According to the indictment, Hothi and Taggar were married in 1983 and have two children. They were divorced in January 1994 but have continued to live with each other as husband and wife, the indictment says.

Investigators said the couple agreed to divorce in order to enter "into sham marriages" with Atwal and Kaur.

The alleged sham marriages took place in India, and petitions were filed to have Atwal and Kaur return with Hothi and Taggar to the United States, according to the indictment.

After arriving in the United States, Atwal married a woman in Fremont. He and his wife have a child, born at Community Medical Center in Fresno July 28, 2002, the indictment says.

Kaur also was married in a Sikh rite in Hayward. She and her husband have two children.

Gappa said the investigation was primarily the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Hector Bencomo. It was conducted in the United States and India with assistance from the Fresno County District Attorney's Office.

The prosecutor said each of the defendants faces up to 10 years in prison for making false statements to immigration authorities and five years in custody on the conspiracy count. Atwal and Kaur also face deportation if they are convicted.

They are all in custody and scheduled for arraignment before a magistrate judge today.