Duped Indians in Saudi Arabia beaten up

A group of Indians who were lured into a manpower supplying company run by two Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province were beaten up after they complained about their situation to Indian officials.

The group of around 200 workers, who had arrived in Saudi Arabia two months back, said the two Bangladeshis visited them at their site Friday and assaulted them for complaining about their plight to Indian embassy officials and social workers, the Arab News reported Saturday.

The workers, both skilled and unskilled, had shelled out between Rs. 90,000 and Rs. 150,000 to a Mumbai-based recruiting agent, Fahad Enterprises, and are from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

They were promised jobs in the Al-Babtain Plastic Factory in Dammam, capital of the Eastern Province, but instead ended up in the manpower supplying company of the two Bangladeshis who forced them to do menial jobs like cleaners in various locations across the province.

They said that after they complained, a group of five men barged into their accommodation Friday and beat up all of them.

The attackers also took with them one of the workers, Himanshu, who used to help aggrieved workers, they alleged.

They also also threatened the Indians with dire consequences if they did not report for work.