JAGATSINGHPUR: Raghunathpur police unearthed a human trafficking racket on Thursday with the arrest of a middleman for torturing and branding a migrant labourer with hot iron rod in Mumbai.
Sources said Dipiti Ranjan Nayak of Tirtol and a few others agents used to lure illiterate and unemployed youths of Raghunahtpur, Tirtol, Jagatsinghpur and Biridi areas by the promise of jobs outside the State. Taking advantage of their gullibility, the middlemen also promised the local youths high salary in reputed companies. But instead, they were being forced to work as labourers in inhuman condition. Besides, the youths were not paid salary for months and tortured often.
One Gadadhar Behera of Gualipur village and other unemployed youths of Raghunathpur and Tirtol areas were taken to Mumbai by Nayak and his accomplices with the promise of well-paid jobs in July, 2019. However, Behera and other youths were made to work without salary and subjected to continuous torture.
After the workers were not paid salary for four months, they including Behera threatened to leave the company. Nayak and other goons hired by the company beat Behera up mercilessly in December last year. He was also branded with a hot iron. Later, Behera managed to escape from the clutches of his employers and reached his native village. He also lodged a complaint against the agents who had taken him to Mumbai with Raghunathpur police.Basing on the complaint, police arrested Nayak.