Anantapur: Sheik Seiskhavali, Nadendla Khasim and four others from Pulivendula area in Kadapa district thought they were flying to Dubai, but ended up in Malaysia. Fake agents cheated them in the name of attractive salaries and collected Rs 80,000 from each of them.
The wives of the victims were in tears as they met minister Palle Raghunath Reddy at his office here on Monday. According to these women, overseas travel and recruitment agents Patan China Tofi from Pulivendula in Kadapa district and V. Ramaiah from Kolar in Karnataka lured six persons -- Sheik Sheikshavali, Nadendla Khasim, Udayagiri Rafi, Sheik Mastanvarli, Sheik Hussainpeera and Kakarla Babaiah -- from Pulivendula area, promising them jobs with good salaries in Dubai.
The agency offered Rs 25,000 as salary besides free accommodation. The poor families borrowed money from private lenders and paid Rs 80,000 for each person for visa and travel to Dubai. However, all the six men found themselves in Malaysia instead of Dubai, the family members told the minister. They told the minister that the men were in difficult conditions and sought government help to bring them back.
The minister advised NRI wing joint secretary Ashok Kumar to do the needful. He also said it was wrong on the part of people to approach shady agents, and must approach the NRI wing of the government to ascertain facts before paying money to agents. Pulivendula ASP Anbu Rajan told this newspaper that the police had no information about the cheating.
