COIMBATORE: Two handloom workers hailing from Tirupur and Erode, who were sent to Thailand by Ooty-based overseas job agents late August, have been reported missing for over a month. It is suspected that apart from the two, the alleged racketeers had sent nearly 50 others from Tamil Nadu, to Phuket. On Thursday, the wives of the two workers, Karthikeyan of Devankapuram in Kangeyam (Tirupur) and Kumar of Thottampalayam in Bhavanisagar, Erode, met Inspector General of Police (West Zone) K Vannia Perumal here and submitted petitions seeking to trace and rescue them. In December last, their husbands Karthikeyan and Kumar had paid Rs 3 lakh each to Murugan and his son Vivek, hailing from Ooty, after being promised a job in a wine manufacturing company in Italy with a monthly salary of Rs 54,000, Gomathi and Udhayarani said in their petitions, They were introduced to the agents by a couple of acquaintances. However, after the money was deposited in a bank account held by Murugan’s wife Shanti, the agents did nothing to send them to Italy. “We had also paid `50,000 separately to an acquaintance, Shanmuga Shankar. After a futile wait, my husband started demanding the money back,” Gomathi said. However, the agents convinced the victim saying he would instead send him to Thailand for a job with a circuit manufacturing unit.“They had said that the new job, with a monthly salary of `35,000, would be facilitated by another agent, Deepak Rangan.” “On August 29, my husband, along with Kumar and a few others, boarded a flight from Chennai to Thailand,” she added. On landing in Pattaya, the workers were accommodated in a hotel room and given a daily allowance of Rs 150. After 20 days, they were taken to Phuket. “My husband used to call me frequently over phone. During one such conversation, he said that the agent had brought as many as 53 persons from TN, promising jobs in Thailand. He added that all of them had been put up in different hotels. He last spoke to me last on the night of September 28. I have not heard from him ever since,” Gomathi said. Gomathi and Udhayarani then tried calling Murugan, Vivek, Deepak Rangan and another middleman, Thangaraj, in vain. “Their mobiles are switched off and they are missing,” said Gomathi. The women have submitted copies of the passport, flight ticket, bank receipt and mobile phone numbers of the agents to the police. “I have instructed the Erode Superintendent of Police to inquire into the complaint. Based on a preliminary report, we will decide if a special team needs to be constituted to crack the case. We will certain try to find out the fate of the 53 persons whom the agents are believed to have sent to Thailand,” Vannia Perumal said.
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