The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has so far arrested four accused in case of related to the trafficking of Indian nationals for combat roles in the Russian Army. Arun and Yesudas Junior, both residents of Thiruvananthapuram were held on May 7, 2024 in the registered case on March 6, the two other accused Nijil Jobi Bensam from Kanyakumari and Anthony Micheal Elangovan from Mumbai were earlier arrested on April 24 and are in judicial custody.
On March 6, the agency had busted a human trafficking network spread across several states and in other countries. It targeted gullible youth on the promise of lucrative jobs abroad. These traffickers have been operating as an organised network and were luring Indian nationals through social media channels like You Tube also through social media channels like You Tube an also through their local contests’ agents for highly paid jobs in Russia, said CBI.
The trafficked Indian nationals were trained in combat roles and deployed at front bases in the Russia-Ukraine war zones against their wishes thus putting their lives in danger Some of the victims got grievously injured in the war. The CBI alleged that Bensam worked as a translator on contract basis in Russia and was a key member of the network operating from there to facilitate recruitment of Indian nationals in the Russian Army.
“Accused Micheal Anthony was facilitating his co-accused Faisal Baba based in Dubai and others in Russia in getting the visa processing done in Chennai and booking the air-tickets to go to Russia,” it said. The other two were allegedly the main recruiters of Indian nationals from Kerala and Tamil Nadu said the agency, adding that investigations were underway to identify the others involved.
On March 7, 2024, the CBI raided over a dozen locations in Delhi, Thiruvanthapuram, Mumbai, Ambala, Chandigarh, Madurai and Chennai against private consultancy firms’ agents and other networks who were allegedly part of the network. The agency had come across 35 instances of people sent abroad.
Among those mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR) were 24X7 RAS Overseas Foundation (Delhi) and its director Suyash Mukut, OSD Bros Travels and Visa Services (Mumbai) and its director Rakesh Pandey, Adventure Visa Services (Ambala, Chandigarh and Punjab) and its director Manjeet Singh, Baba Vlogs Overseas Recruitment Solutions (Dubai) and its director Faisal Abdul Mutalib Khan.
The others included Srividya (Madurai), Ramesh Kumar Palansamy and Santosh (Russia) from Tamil Nadu, Tomy and Job from Thiruvanthapuram, Adventure Visa Services (Ambala) and Tanu Kant Sharma from Palwal in Haryana, Chirstina (resident of Russia), Mohammed Sufiyan Dawood Ahmad Darugar and his wife from Palghar, Maharashtra and Moinuddin Chhippa (Rajasthan), who was then in Russia.
Following the searches the agency has said that the human traffickers and the agents were also chasing were also cheating Indians by getting them enrolled in dubious private universities in Russia by offering them free and discounted visa extensions and fee structure.
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