Kochi: The city police on Friday rescued seven individuals who were held captive in a rented building at Cheranelloor after being lured to Kochi with promises of jobs in Canada.
Rescue Operation
Acting on confidential information, police rescued the victims from a building on Mundyathu Road near the Cheranelloor signal. Upon arrival, all victims were found in a weak condition. They hailed from Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka, and had completed only up to Class VIII education, police said.
Modus Operandi
There are 11 accused who collected approximately Rs 30 lakh from each job aspirant after convincing them they would be given jobs in Canada. The agreement was that everyone would be taken to Canada. Instead, the accused brought them to the rented house in Cheranelloor and held them captive.
Police stated that the accused set up boards with pictures of places in Canada as backdrops and coerced the aspirants into making videos claiming they had reached Canada. These videos were sent to the victims' relatives in their hometowns to extract more money.
Arrest and Investigation
After one of the captives escaped, the accused fled with the money. During the investigation, police arrested Abdul Raheem, a native of Siliguri in West Bengal, from the Ernakulam South railway station area. At the time of arrest, police recovered the victims' mobile phones, passports, and nearly Rs 1 lakh from Raheem. He was produced in court and remanded. Police are searching for the other accused.
Police have received information that the accused had carried out similar frauds in other states. Cheranelloor police are conducting an investigation in coordination with officers in other states.
Under the directives of Kochi city’s Ernakulam central ACP Premanandakrishnan, the accused was caught under the leadership of Cheranelloor police station Inspector Jayasankar. The team included SI Sunil G, Chaithanya, Sabu, ASI Naseer, Manoj, SCPO Thomas George, Bimal, and Joseph.
