Thane police register FIR against Indian agents of Myanmar fake IT job racket

The complainant with a copy of the FIR. Pic/Atul Kamble

The Thane police have finally registered an FIR against the Indian agents of the Myanmar fake IT job racket. This comes after mid-day highlighted their alleged wrongdoings in the Saturday edition of this newspaper. Hours after the report was published, Thane Police Commissioner Jai Jeet Singh got in touch with this correspondent to get the details of the complainant, a teacher from Thane.

She was then asked to visit Kasarvadavali police station to record her statement. The woman said, "I am thankful to mid-day for helping me file the FIR against agents Jagdish Tiwari and Jagdish Kandpal, who lured my son into the racket."

"My son is in danger and needs to be rescued. I am worried for his safety," said the woman. She also claimed that she had been doing rounds of the police station but a police officer had been trying to dissuade her from filing an FIR. "I had submitted my complaint to Kasarvadavali police on October 21 and since then I had been making rounds of the police station. But they would never give priority to my complaint. It was only after mid-day intervened and published an article, Assistant Police Inspector Ravindra Phad, who was earlier dissuading me to register an FIR saying it does not amount to any offence, requested me to visit the police station and subsequently an FIR was registered."

Also read: Maharashtra: Bank employee robbed of Rs 11.75 lakh in Thane

The complainant shows a photo of Jagdish Kandpal. Pic/Atul Kamble

Initially, Thane police registered the FIR under Sections 363 (kidnapping) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code (IPC), but on Sunday, the woman was again called at the police station where she was asked to undersign a document by the police to add stringent sections of the IPC, Passports Act, Emigration Act to the existing FIR.

"Though I had mentioned everything in my complaint, the police had added only two sections of the IPC. But on Sunday, they promised to make the case stronger," she added.

The case has been filed against both the agents, of whom Kandpal has been blacklisted by the Indian Embassy in Myanmar.

Jagdish Kandpal's chat with Chinese operators where he shared the number of a policeman

Possible links

The complainant further told mid-day that when the FIR was being registered, her son, who was unavailable on WhatsApp for days, was suddenly online and made a video call. "Kandpal has been telling me that he is not an agent and that he does not know anyone in Myanmar where my son is enslaved by the Chinese scammers. Then how come my son was suddenly online on his WhatsApp and called me when I was at the police station? He was visibly terrified during the call, as if he was being monitored by someone," she said.

Kandpal, who has been claiming that he was not an agent, has, however, shared screenshots of his chats with the Chinese scammers with the woman. "Kandpal is in direct touch with his foreign coordinator. He has been sending me screenshots of his chat with Chinese scammers. In one such chat, Kandpal has even shared the number of inspector Phad. I don't understand why he would share the phone number of a police officer with the scammers. This is beyond me. So, I request the government of India to help me rescue my son," she urged.

One agent ‘untraceable'

The Thane police's delay in taking legal action against the agents has paved the way for one of these conmen to disappear.

"After registering the FIR, we visited the houses of both the accused. We have submitted one notice to Jagdish Tiwari but another accused Jagdish Kandpal is untraceable. I have tried multiple times to call him but he did not respond to my calls," said sub-inspector Chandrashekhar Sapkale.

"But we will trace him [Kandpal] soon…," he added.

Freed but not free

Nearly a dozen Indian youth, who were enslaved in Myanmar at the hands of their Chinese captors, have paid $5,000 (approx. Rs 4.1 lakh) each to earn their freedom on Saturday. But their return to the country is still far.

"After we arranged the money through family and friends, we were set free by the fraud factories. But moments after we crossed the international border and entered Thailand, local authorities detained us," one of the victims told mid-day from Maesot in Thailand.

He added, "It is surprising that these authorities were sleeping when we were being taken to Myanmar from the same route and did nothing to stop the vehicles where humans were trafficked. But they did not miss to detain us after we somehow managed to set ourselves free. It clearly proves how deep-rooted corruption is involved to help them flourish in the fake job racket."

Talking about the area where victims have been kept hostage in Myanmar, an official at Indian Embassy in Myanmar said, "The area is out of control of the Myanmar authorities and rebel groups hold sway in that area."

Another victim said, "The Government of India is also doing nothing to help us. We managed to come out of Myanmar. The Government of India should at least make us feel comfortable in Thailand, but we have been detained by the authorities at Maesot as we violated the visa rule. We have been telling them that we are victims and were trapped in Myanmar, but no one is here to listen to our grievances… now we are being bundled into a jail."

21
Day in October when Thane teacher first filed police complaint

$5,000
Money victims paid to Chinese captors for freedom