Purnea, March 23: Purnea police today brought back 11 labourers being held captive in Bagpat district of Uttar Pradesh for the past two months. A joint team of the Purnea and the Uttar Pradesh police rescued the group on March 19.

In January this year, two labour contractors, Kaushal Yadav and Nilesh Yadav, reportedly lured the villagers with the promise of jobs in a sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh and took them there.

Each member of the group was also promised a monthly salary of Rs 5,000 and three meals a day.

Once there, the contractors allegedly sold off the unsuspecting villagers to Pradip Ram Tayagi, a farmer in Baam village of Bagpat district in Uttar Pradesh.

Police are conducting raids to nab the labour contractors who are absconding. However, Tayagi was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police and was charged with rape and holding the labourers against their will.

The labourers were identified as Ramesh Rishi and Feku Rishi, both hailing from Majhua Premrajpokhar Tola, while Santosh Rishi, Anil Rishi, Maheshri Rishi, Pintu Rishi, Mushai Rishi, Chhedi Rishi, Promod Rishi, Cha- ndan Rishi and his wife Manakiya Devi are all residents of Jalal Majhawa Tola under Sarsi police station of Purnea district.

One of the labourers, Dilip Rishi, managed to escape from the clutches of Tayagi and fled to Delhi.

Later, he returned home to Purnea and alerted the families of the other labourers as well about the torture.

Eventually, relatives of trapped labourers lodged a case against Kaushal, Nilesh and Tayagi at Sarsi police station on March 7 and thereafter met the Purnea superintendent of police and narrated him the entire course of events.

Taking serious note of the complaint, the Purnea superintendent of police, Amit Lodha immediately formed a five-member team comprising a constable, a police sub- inspector, a member of Free the Slave, a non-governme- ntal organisation, a relative of the contractors and a per- son who had seen the place.

They were then sent to Bagpat on March 13.

There, a joint force of the Bihar and Uttar Prade- sh police finally rescued labourers.

“We were forced to work at gunpoint and were given three chapatis and vegeta- bles once a day. We were not even given a single paise for our strenuous work of cutting sugarcanes from the field,” said Pintu, one of the trapped labou- rers, after his return home today.

A 19-year-old woman labourer trapped in Bagpat, Janki Devi (name changed) told The Telegraph that she was forced to prepare food for labourers, while she was not given two square meals and also beaten up repeatedly.

Tayagi and Nilesh also allegedly raped her, while her husband, Chandan Rishi, was tied to the pillar.

Moreover, Janki was not allowed to sleep with her husband at night.

The Purnea superintendent of police told The Telegraph that legal action was being taken against those named in the FIR.