Fake job racket busted In India: 400 youths freed from forced captivity

Patna:In a major crackdown on human trafficking, the East Champaran Police, in collaboration with the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), rescued 400 youths from a fraudulent placement company in Motihari on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team led by Raxaul SDPO raided DBR Group, a company accused of luring young victims — many of them minors — with fake job offers, only to hold them captive and extort money from their families.

“We received information about youths being imprisoned by a fraudulent placement agency. Acting swiftly, we raided the premises and freed 400 children,” said East Champaran SP Swarn Prabhat.

Investigations revealed that most of the victims were under 18 years old, hailing from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and even Nepal. The company allegedly promised lucrative jobs in the medical field but instead detained them for months, demanding Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 from their parents under duress.

Police confirmed that the victims had been held hostage for over four months. Five individuals linked to the company have been arrested, and authorities are working with the Labour Enforcement Officer to ensure strict legal action.

“These fraudulent syndicates operate under the guise of networking and marketing, trapping and extorting vulnerable families. We are committed to dismantling such criminal networks,” said SP Prabhat.

The police and SSB teams of over 100 constables and jawans were involved in the raids that covered at least 10 premises where the captive people were kept.

“The rescued youths and children are so afraid and in such a mental condition that they are afraid of telling anything to the police. They are being counselled by child rights groups and psychiatrists. Efforts were being made to contact their families,” a senior police officer said.

Sources said that the people involved in the racket threatened to harm or kill the captives if their families or guardians did not cough up the money. They asserted that the group was also connected to international human trafficking and added that the local police were patronising it.

The police have launched a broader investigation to track similar rackets operating in the region. An FIR has been registered, and further arrests are expected.

This shocking rescue operation exposes the growing menace of fake placement agencies exploiting desperate job seekers, and authorities have vowed to take aggressive action to shut them down.

“A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed under the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) to investigate and destroy the entire network. We will conduct an in-depth probe into the racket. The youths and minors were held hostage by the group involved and their relatives were forced to pay money regularly for their safety and upkeep,” a top police official was quoted as saying.