Over 30 Nepali youths held captive in Uttarakhand rescued; 3 arrested

Rudrapur: Police in Udham Singh Nagar district have rescued 32 Nepali youths, including three boys, who were allegedly brought here from Nepal on the pretext of jobs and kept hostage, an officer said on Sunday.

Three people were arrested in connection with the crime, he said.

The Embassy of Nepal in India, however, said the number of Nepali citizens rescued was 35.

It said the captives were rescued in a joint action by the embassy, a social outfit named KIN India, and the Uttarakhand Police.

Udham Singh Nagar District Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manikant Mishra said the Nepali youths were freed from the Kashipur area of the district and handed over to the officials of the Nepal Embassy.

He said the rescue operation was launched after an official of the Nepal Embassy, Naveen Joshi, in Delhi, flagged the matter to local authorities on Thursday.

According to Mishra, Joshi said that some Nepalese youths had been lured to India on the pretext of jobs, and were held captive in Kashipur.

Mishra said the youths were rescued from the house of one Maharaj Singh alias Pappu in Om Vihar Colony in a raid headed by the Kashipur circle officer.

One of the youths told police that they had been brought to India with a promise of work by 21-year-old Birendra Shahi, a native of Dhangadhi of Gram Vikas Samiti Kapleki in Nepal.

Shahi, according to him, took from each youth Rs 10,000 to 30,000.

While in captivity, these people were forced to sell the products of Lead Vision Trading India Private Limited Company, and when they refused, they were thrashed, berated, and threatened with death.

The officer, citing the testimony of the rescued, said Shahi also worked under the duress of one Sachin Kumar, a native of Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, and Rudrapur-resident Manish Tiwari.

All three were booked under sections 127(4), 318(4), 317(2), 3(5) of the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice Act, and arrested, Mishra said.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that Lead Vision Trading India Pvt Ltd is based in Delhi’s Janakpuri area.

They said they worked at the behest of one of the company’s founding directors, Chetan Handa, whom they never met.

The accused revealed that Handa and his associates would call them and ask them to reel in people with the promise of a job and take money from them. The money would be transferred to the firm’s account, the officer said.

Police may take action against Chetan Handa if the revelations turn out to be true, he said.