A case has been registered against a travel agent by the Bhavaninagar police for reportedly cheating a woman named Khairun Bee, who has been allegedly detained in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Hameeda Begum, the woman’s daughter, lodged a complaint with the south zone police stating that one Ali Basha had approached her mother and sent her to Riyadh with the promise of getting her a good job.
In her complaint to V. Satyanarayana, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), south zone, Hameeda, a resident of Talab Katta, stated that Basha approached her family and promised her mother a job which pays ₹₹25,000 a month in Riyadh.
Believing him, Khairun took the offer and was taken to Mumbai, New Delhi, Dubai and finally to Riyadh along with five more women in December last year.
Hameeda alleged that her mother was made to work in four houses as a maid and when she would ask Basha about her, he told her that Khairun was doing fine.
However, she received a call from someone who informed that Khairun was hospitalised and in a serious condition. Basha reportedly asked her to pay ₹2 lakhs to get her mother back to Hyderabad, she told the DCP in her letter.
When contacted, Mr. Satyanaryana said that a case was being registered and that efforts will be made to bring back the woman to Hyderabad. “As per the rules in Saudi Arabia, the employer has to pay ₹ 3 lakh to a worker before hiring her. However, that money never reaches them and is taken away by agents abroad, in Mumbai and in Hyderabad,” he told The Hindu .
Since they give a huge advance, employers then reportedly don’t pay their maids for about 20 months, said the DCP. He added that most of the people who work as maids in Saudi Arabia are paid about ₹ 15,000 a month. Majilis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) leader Amjadullah Khan, who went to meet the DCP along with Hameeda, requested him to bring back her mother safely to Hyderabad.
