A 23-year-old youth, Jayanta Biswas, from West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district was sold as a slave in Saudi Arabia by travel agents who lured him with a job. Biswas, an automobile engineer by profession, was promised a job in Saudi Arabia's automobile industry by his agent. However, when he landed in Riyadh on May 15, 2016, he was sold to a Saudi master, Naief Bookme.

Since then, he has been made to take care of the master's house, cut grass, feed ostriches while living on just one meal a day.

Biswas's sister, Ria told the media, "My brother was lured by a job offer in the automobile industry in Saudi. He had paid a Delhi-based agent, Muneer Ahmed of Al-Hamd Consultant Services Rs one lakh. He was later sent to Riyadh on a tourist visa.However, he was promised of a work visa after he completed three months at his new job. Instead, he was sold as a slave and all his documents were taken away from him."

A distressed Biswas tried to reach out to his family members in West Bengal and even told them that he had been sexually abused on several occasions by his master.

A month down the line, on July 16, he made an attempt to escape, only to be foiled by his master. Later, when he finally managed to escape, he contacted the Indian mission in Saudi. The officials at Saudi opened a file in his name and sent him to an NGO till his return to India.

As soon as Biswas's master learnt of his escape, he filed a complaint with the police that Biswas had stolen 10,000 riyals from his house. He was immediately arrested from the NGO on August 9. His family members paid Rs 35,000 to his agent for his release. He was released from jail on October 27. However, he is still stuck in Riyadh with no travel documents to return to India.

Biswas' family members have approached External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her department to provide temporary travel documents, however, they are yet to hear from the ministry.