KOCHI: As Majeed, alias M Gassali, main accused in the Kuwait human trafficking case, continues to remain holed up somewhere in Kuwait, Kochi City police have decided to file a chargesheet in the case and move an extradition application against him.
A senior police officer, who is part of the investigation, told TNIE that they had completed the probe and a chargesheet was being prepared for filing it before the trial court. “We have arrested the other two accused in the case and the investigation has been completed. Gassali will be listed as an absconding accused and the extradition process will be completed through the court,” said the officer.
Though the city police made repeated attempts to convince Gassali to surrender and cooperate with the legal procedures, he continued playing hide and seek. In fact, he moved an anticipatory bail application before the Kerala High Court which didn’t yield the desired results. The court didn’t show any haste in considering the case on the grounds that the accused was abroad.
“There was a rumour spread by his agents that he was arrested by authorities in Kuwait. We checked and found it to be false,” said a senior police officer.The police opposed his bail plea strongly on the grounds that his arrest and interrogation are a must to collect details about the women he had allegedly trafficked to the Gulf country violating emigration rules. The probe team had collected the detailed statement from one of the other accused identified as Ajumon A R, 35, of Pathanapuram in Kollam. Ajumon was Gassali’s main conduit who operated in Kerala for recruiting women as domestic slaves in the houses of rich Arab families in Kuwait.
The human trafficking incident came to light after five Kerala women were rescued by Malayali organisations from the clutches of a human trafficking racket in Kuwait and brought to Kerala. It is based on a complaint lodged by one of these women that the Kochi city police have invoked IPC Section 370 (exporting, selling a person as slave or detains a person against his/her will as a slave) against the accused.
Though the police had earlier invoked only Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation), Section 370 was added after the police could collect more evidence and statements from the victims who narrated the ordeal they had suffered.
TURN OF EVENTS
The human trafficking incident came to light after five Kerala women were rescued by Malayali organisations from the clutches of a human trafficking racket in Kuwait and brought to Kerala. They were taken to Kuwait promising jobs as baby sitters and hospital staff