Ranchi: Over 40 poor labourers of Giridih, stranded in Mumbai for nearly a week after being duped by a travel agency that promised them jobs for money, were scheduled to board a train to Hazaribagh on Tuesday night after the state government arranged for their safe return under the supervision of CID SP Chandan Kumar Jha and Bagodar SDPO Deepak Sharma.

North Mumbai police have registered an FIR against three agents, who promised the labourers, part of a group of 150 gullible workmen from Giridih and Bokaro, jobs in Oman. The police are setting up a special investigation team to nab the three who are absconding. Their Mumbai office, named S.A. Travels, is locked.

"The labourers' written complaint to Nalasopara SHO was formally converted to an FIR after we reached Mumbai Monday night. In fact, the Mumbai police realised the gravity of the situation after learning that the Jharkhand government had taken cognisance of the incident and sent a team of police officers," Sharma told The Telegraph over phone.

The SDPO said that Manoj Sharma of Calcutta, Nasir Ansari of Mumbai and Raju, whose antecedents weren't known, had been named in the FIR as accused. Over 150 labourers from various parts of Giridih and Bokaro had somehow contacted Raju who promised them jobs Oman for a payment.

Each labourer coughed up anything between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh after which the agents also took away their passports. Some of them were given fake visas that were detected only when they were at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport to board a flight to Oman. While most of the labourers returned home on their own, 40 of the poorest among them were stranded in Mumbai.

Jharkhandi Ekta Sangh, an outfit of migrants from the state, arranged for food and accommodation in Mumbai. But, the Sangh did not have enough funds to buy them train tickets for home.

The plight of the labourers was publicised by state AAP coordinator Janardan Sharma who held a press conference in Ranchi on Saturday. Jharkhandi Ekta Sangh functionaries spoke to the Bagodar SDPO over telephone on Sunday and also told him that the Nalsopara police weren't registering the labourers' FIR.

Thereafter, SDPO Sharma and senior government officials tried to talk to their counterparts in North Mumbai. But they couldn't. On Sunday night, chief minister Raghubar Das asked CID SP Jha and SDPO Sharma to go to Mumbai and help the stranded labourers. "Ekta Sangh office-bearers had also accommodated some of the labourers in their homes," SDPO Sharma said.

"We will be taking a flight to Ranchi on Wednesday and I will be there at Hazaribagh Road railway station when the labourers' arrive by train Thursday morning," he said, adding that they would organise vehicles for them to go home.