HYDERABAD: As many as four students from the city, who are stuck in Malaysia after they were allegedly duped on the pretext of securing good jobs, appealed to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to intervene into the matter and arrange for their repatriation. Apart from the four students, six more from the State and Andhra Pradesh are also stuck there.
The four mechanical engineering students, Syed Zubair ur Rehman, Ahmed Asif Abbas, Panduri Ravendra and Nakka Venkateswarulu were allegedly cheated by a travel agent Rajender Naik Ramavathu and have been stuck in the country since March. They were purportedly promised jobs in Malaysia and were asked to pay `2 lakh each to the travel agent.
One of the victims, Abbas, in a video from Malaysia said, “After coming here and after many months, we realised that we were given fake job cards. All other documents such as job letters also turned out to be fake. After we found these out, we have been trying to get back to India. He has taken our passports, and he (the travel agent) is saying that it is not possible to send the passports.
Zubair said, “Whenever we asked him to take us to the Embassy, he did not let us. When we tried to go to the Embassy, he scared us saying that police would nab us as we are staying illegally. This is why, we are asking you Mrs Swaraj to rescue us from here.”
In their letter to Swaraj, they said that the agent Ramavathu was also running a recruitment agency in Malaysia. “He has cheated number of students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State in the name of providing job visa in Malaysia...Many students who were sent by him have been arrested by police in Malaysia and were in jails for months.”
One of the victims brother, a resident of Kalapatthar area also approached the police to take action against the travel agent.
However, he was turned to Saidabad police. Majilis Bachao Tehreek spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan said, “Inspite of so many cheating cases being reported in Hyderabad, no stringent action has been taken by city police against fake travel agents. Not a single travel agent has been booked under PD Act by them.”