Courtesy The New Indian Express

The victims were lured on the pretext of getting jobs in Canada, but were instead forcefully confined in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against six accused persons from Tamil Nadu for their alleged involvement in an organised international human trafficking racket of 38 Sri Lankan nationals. The victims were lured on the pretext of getting jobs in Canada, but were instead forcefully confined in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The chargesheet was filed before the NIA Special Court in Bengaluru against Dhinakaran alias Ayya, Kasi Viswanathan, Rasool, Satham Ushen alias Saddam Hussain, Abdul Muheetu, and Socrates, under Sections 343, 344, 370(3), and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).  

The Mangaluru South police station registered an FIR on June 10 this year against 25 Sri Lankans under Sections 120B, 370, 420 of IPC, Section 14 of the Foreigners’ Act, and Section 12(1A) of the Passports Act, 1967, for allegedly staying in a lodge without valid documents. During police raids, 13 more Sri Lankans were apprehended.

The investigation established that 38 Sri Lankans were trafficked to India in four batches this year, between February 27 and April 10. The charge sheeted persons, as part of the larger conspiracy with Sri Lankan suspects/ accused persons, had trafficked and confined the Sri Lankans at various places in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka without any contact with their family members, with the objective to misguide their families that they were on board a ship to Canada,” the NIA stated.

The 38 trafficked Sri Lankans were promised that they would be sent to Canada and were charged a fee ranging between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh Sri Lankan Rupees, worth around Rs 1.83 crore by an absconding accused and a Sri Lankan national, Easan, and his associates in the island country and India,” added the Central agency.