Thirty-two labourers found themselves stranded in the city after a conman, who promised them jobs in South Africa, fled with the Rs 12 lakh they had given him
The alleged middleman, Subhash Patti, was nabbed by the labourers. Pic/ Datta Kumbhar
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Thirty-two labourers found themselves stranded in the city yesterday after a conman, who promised them jobs in South Africa, fled with the Rs 12 lakh they had given him. The accused, identified as Ajay Yadav, had collected the money over the past four days.
While Yadav is said to be absconding, one Subhash Patti, the alleged middleman, was nabbed by the labourers and handed over to the MRA Marg police in the wee hours today.
One of the labourers said, "Through various friends, Patti, who worked for a steel company inIranandSri Lanka, contacted people from UP, Bihar and Maharashtra, telling them that there was a job opportunity inSouth Africa. He said each of us would have to pay Rs 40,000-50,000, after which we would be taken toSouth Africa."
The 32 people, who were desperately looking for work, headed to Mumbai and on February 10, where Patti introduced them to Yadav. Patti got the workers to hand over their passports and cash telling them he would finalise their flight tickets for Tuesday night.
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One of the victims, Surendra Yadav, said, "I was desperately looking for work when I heard of this offer. As Patti had gone abroad twice for similar work, we believed him and I paid Yadav R45,000, only to realise that I had been cheated."
Another victim, Jalna resident Uday Thakur said, "All of us were told to stay at lodges in Mumbai Central and Nagpada till February 13. We were continuously in touch with Patti. We were told to be ready to fly out on Tuesday, but when our passports did not reach us with a visa stamp and the tickets we realised something was fishy. We nabbed Patti, who returned our passports saying Yadav had fled with the money."
An MRA Marg police officer said, "Based on the details given to us by the workers, we have detained one of the suspects, who is allegedly the middleman. Investigations are in progress."
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