ALAPPUZHA: The three Haripad youths who were tortured by their Saudi Arabian employer a year ago are still waiting for justice. Baiju Babu, 26, Abhilash Gopi, 21, and B. Vimalkumar, 30, of Haripad were brought back from Abha, Saudi Arabia on December 27, 2015, after they sent a WhatsApp video to their families showing them being assaulted by their Saudi employer. Their return was made possible by the intervention of the then chief minister Oommen Chandy and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
Baiju said that they had registered a case against Shamsad Basheer, Shabna Manzil, Chingoli, and Shabumon at Kayamkulam and Kareelakulangara police stations for cheating them and promising them good jobs in Saudi Arabia. Another two men, Naufal Aboobaker, a Haripad-based travel agent and K.N. Vinodkumar, a civil police officer at the Arattupuzha police station, were also sued in connection with the case. They had also registered a case against Abdulla Hijab Al Baraq, the Saudi national who assaulted them in the presence of Basheer. Vinodkumar was suspended from service for involvement in the cheating case.
The Kerala police had listed Shamsad Basheer, 32, first accused, in the category of the most wanted criminals. His picture is still on Alappuzha section of police website. It says he was charged under sections 120 (B),406, 420,370, 34 IPC and 10, 24 of the Emigration Act. Basheer was arrested on February 20 last year by Kareelakulangara police after he was detained by the emigration authorities at Chennai airport on the basis of the lookout notice. An official with Kareelakulangara police said that Shamsad was arrested and released on bail. But he is facing trial in three cheating cases.
