New Delhi: Women staffers of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath’s 1076 helpline have claimed they were locked up and tortured for protesting against non-payment of salaries on Friday.

According to Times of India, the employees – who have not been paid for the last four months – alleged that they were beaten up and locked in a room at the Cyber Tower office in Vibhuti Khand.

Over ten other female employees fainted during Friday’s protest at their office in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar area and had to be rushed to the nearby Ram Manohar Lohia hospital for treatment.

A staffer told the daily that they were not allowed to punch their cards when they entered the office and were instructed to mark attendance on a sheet of paper, which they protested against.

“We told them to give our salaries and we would leave,” one Akanksha Singh said, adding: “The officials took us into a room for negotiation but locked us in.”

According to the police, a call was received around 7:30 am from a woman who claimed that 100 employees had been locked up and a few of them had consumed a substance. Media reports have not specified what the substance was.

“We immediately reached the spot and opened the room,” News18 quoted Satyendra Kumar Rai, the SHO of Vibhuti Khand, as saying. “One Shalu Yadav had fainted, while Shama, Shalini and Shivani had vomited. We took them to RML Hospital.”

Rai further said that CCTV footage from the facility is currently being examined.

Dr D.S. Negi of RML Hospital has denied claims of any women consuming any substance.

Dhruv Mishra, project head of the call centre, has on his part claimed that salaries had been deposited into the accounts of all employees on February 8. He told TOI that: “We have 1,200 employees working in three shifts. Only some have problems because of bank issues.”

According to India Today, the call centre was set up in December with the help of an NGO to channelise the complaints of the people of the state and for offering quick redressal.