As many as eight labourers, including three minor girls, of Rajnagar block, who were held captive and tortured at a prawn processing factory in Maharashtra, have been rescued, informed officials here.
The victims, identified as Khokan Mandal and his wife Basanti Mandal and Jyotsna Kamila of Charigharia hamlet, Jamuna Biswas of Bagapatia and Minati Samal, Haralata Samal, laxmi Samal and Saraswati Patra of Okilapala village. They reached their respective villagers on Sunday.
While sharing their sordid tale, minor girls Minati, Haralata and laxmi stated that Sabita Mandal of Bagapatia, Sudarshan Mallick of Gupti and Saraswati Patra of Okilapala, all middlemen, had told them that they would work at a prawn processing unit in Bhubaneswar and would be given attractive wages. As they agreed, one Pinky lenka of Malapatana village under Ali block took them to Maharashtra instead of Bhubaneswar on October 8.
“We were forced to work in hazardous condition there. When we wanted to return home, the unit owner’s henchmen beat us mercilessly and threatened to kill us,” rescued victims alleged, demanding immediate arrest of the middlemen.