AHMEDABAD:

on Friday

94

— including

— who were working at a factory in the Kathwada GIDC. Police officials said the labourers, from Assam and Nagaland, were bonded labourers and were made to work at a pharmaceuticals factory.

DCP Zone 5 Akshaykumar Makwana said they apprehended a middleman named Mukesh Bharwad, 34, a resident of Chiloda. “He confessed to us that apart from these

persons from Nagaland and Assam, they had kept 250 more bonded labourers at Vadodara. We have informed our Vadodara counterparts so that they can be rescued,” he added.

According to police sources, PSI A J Parmar and his team were tipped-off that bonded labourers were being used at factory in the Kathwada GIDC.

“A team that went to the factory and found Mukesh Bharwad there. When they asked about the labourers, he said they were being kept at his farmhouse near Chiloda. Our team raided the farmhouse and found 12 minors and 82 other bonded labourers,” added Makwana.

On questioning Bharwad, it emerged that he used to get labourers from Assam and Nagaland, after promising them good job. “He had two agents in Assam and Nagaland — Sinothoil Bijoy and Hotanbi Christain — who used to send the men from there,” added a police official.

Makwana said the labourers told them that they were forced to work there and were not allowed to go home.