In Cambodia job racket, 1 arrested in Vadodara

On Monday, officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) also arrived in Vadodara for a probe as the complainant had also marked his complaint to the NIA.

Multiple cases of unsuspecting job aspirants getting trapped and being held hostage in Cambodia over denial to commit cyber crime have come to the fore in the recent weeks.

Based on a complaint received on email from a 37-year-old resident of Ganjam in Odisha, the DCB swooped down on the office of agency in Subhanpura and arrested Manish Hingu for sending the man to Cambodia by promising him a lucrative job.

The FIR lodged by the DCB on Sunday night states, “Taking him (complainant) into confidence, the accused asked the complainant to pay a fees of Rs 1.5 lakh and offered him a job as a computer operator in a Vietnam-based company named Delta. On reaching Vietnam, co-accused agent Krishna Pathak informed the complainant that the company that gave the offer letter (Delta) had closed down and a local Vietnamese agent named Vikki would finalise another employment (offer) for the victim.” The crime was committed between July 17 last year and May 26, according to the FIR.

The FIR states that after “winning (the Odisha man’s) confidence”, Vikki took the complainant along to Cambodia and allegedly took away the complainant’s passport. “He took the complainant to an ‘unnamed’ company, indulging in cybercrime and bank account hacking of unsuspecting Indians through ‘friendship chats’. The complainant stated that since he was not interested in involving himself in criminal activities, a Chinese official of the unnamed company demanded USD 2,820 and threatened to sell him off to another company for USD 2,000.” “The accused allegedly threatened to ensure that the complainant would not be able to return to India unless his family paid USD 2,000. The accused then did not allow the complainant to have a meal for three consecutive days and illegally confined him to a room for 34 days, inflicting physical and mental torture…”

According to the complainant, it was the Indian government operation through which he was rescued from the hostage-situation. Officials of the DCB said, “The complainant came in touch with the accused through a WhatsApp group named UES Job1 after which he arrived at the Subhanpura office of the company and met two accused– Hingu and Pathak. He paid Rs 1.5 lakh for processing documents to travel to Vietnam but did not suspect he was to become a victim of human trafficking.” Yuvrajsinh Jadeja, Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCB, said, “The operation in Vadodara was carried out by the DCB after we lodged the FIR based on the complainant’s email yesterday… The NIA also arrived as the email was marked to them as well… We have nabbed Hingu and teams are on the lookout for Pathak as well.”

The Vadodara DCB has booked the accused, including Vikki, under Indian Penal Code Sections for human trafficking (370), wrongful confinement for ten days or more (344), keeping in detention after abduction and threatening to cause death or hurt [364(A)], committing extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt (386), criminal breach of trust (406), cheating (420), and criminal conspiracy [120(B).