Indian worker held hostage by recruitment agent

Dubai, Oct 11 (UNI) In yet another instance of Indian workers falling prey to the menace of human trafficking, a recruitment agent locked up a worker in a room for three days without basic amenities.

Murali Ranganathan, 23, was confined to a room for three days without food and water by his labour agent here as he did not get his promised commission from his Indian counterpart.

Murali came to the UAE in July along with five other men on a tourist visa and landed up with jobs illegally as masons for 800 Dirham.

Each of these men had paid around Rs 90,000 to their recruitment agent in Chennai.

''We worked for a private company and none of us got paid for a couple months, but did receive 500 Dirham for personal expenses,'' Ranganathan told Gulf News.

On October 3, he, along with his worker friends who came from Chennai, were locked up in a room by the agent.

However, the agent sent one of the confined men back home after he managed to escape through the air-conditioning duct. But Ranganathan was held hostage till the agent in India paid the promised commission to his UAE counterpart.

Meanwhile, Ranganathan approached the Indian consulate in Dubai and submitted an application for his repatriation to India. He also handed over the agent's mobile number to the consulate officials.

But instead of helping him get his passport back, the Indian consulate asked him to buy an open ticket and get back to them.

When contacted in this regard, there was no response from either the consulate or the agent.

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