Two people were recently arrested by the Trombay police for tricking three women into going to Saudi Arabia for Haj, but then selling them to three Sheikhs to work as their maid servants. A manhunt has been launched to nab three others involved.
According to the police, recruitment agent and Cheetah Camp resident Afzal Khan approached Rashida Rehman, 42, Saira Banu, 45, and Samira Banu, 46, and said he would take them for Haj for free if they stayed there for three months and distributed free drinking water to devotees for which they would get 1,000 Riyal a month. The women accepted offer.
They reached Saudi Arabia on September 7 2012, but instead of being taken on the pilgrimage, he sold them to three Sheikhs and came back to Mumbai.
When they realised they were duped, the victims — all residents of Cheetah Camp in Trombay — informed their relatives about what happened. They could not return as the Sheikhs had confiscated their passports.
Two months later, Rehman allegedly threatened to commit suicide if she was not allowed to leave. The scared owner returned her passport after which she returned to India with her salary for two months. The other two women are still in Saudi Arabia.
Soon after returning, she and relatives of the other women wrote to the Trombay police who then registered an FIR against five persons, a police officer said.
“Farzana Abdul Shiekh, 40, and Mubarak Choule, 38, were booked under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC on February 19 and are now in the Arthur Road jail,” police inspector DB Thorat said, adding that a manhunt has been launched to nab Khan and the other two associates.
@dayanand_kamath
