New Delhi: A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids in seven cities to uncover a human trafficking ring transporting Indians to Russia, India announced on Friday (March 8) that it has “strongly” asked Moscow to promptly repatriate Indian nationals allegedly coerced into serving in the Russian army under false pretences.
The CBI’s raids on Thursday (March 7), spanning 15 locations across seven cities, were prompted by complaints of human trafficking against visa consultancy firms and agents for sending Indians to Russia purportedly for employment, only to compel them into frontline deployment in the Ukraine conflict.
The investigation revealed that many were lured to Russia on the pretext of securing admission into private universities and then forced to go to the war zone.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that several Indian nationals have been duped to work with the Indian army. “We have strongly taken up the matter with the Russian government for the early discharge of such Indian nationals,” he said at the weekly media briefing.
“We remain committed to the early release of our nationals serving as support staff with the Russian Army and their eventual return home.”
On the raids, he noted that the CBI had “busted a major human trafficking network conducting searches in several cities and collecting incriminating evidence”.
He noted that “strong action” has been initiated against “agents and unscrupulous elements who recruited them”. “A case of human trafficking has been registered against several agents,” added Jaiswal.
The MEA spokesperson also reiterated that Indian nationals should not be swayed by offers for support jobs with the Russian army as it was “fraught with danger and risk to life”.
So far, at least two Indians, who were working with the Russian army, are known to have lost their lives in the fighting. The MEA spokesperson said that since they were killed in distant locations, the Indian embassy had been facing challenges to get their mortal remains back to India.
The CBI’s press release issued on Thursday said that “traffickers have been operating as an organised network and were luring Indian nationals through social media channels like YouTube etc. and also through their local contacts/agents for highly paid jobs in Russia”. The raids were carried out on Thursday in Delhi, Mumbai, Ambala, Chandigarh, Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai.
On reaching Russia, the Indians “were trained in combat roles and deployed at the front bases in the Russia-Ukraine war zone against their wishes, thus, putting their lives in grave danger”.
During the raid, the CBI found cash amounting to Rs 50 lakh and confiscated “incriminating documents and electronic records like laptops, mobiles, desktops, CCTV footage”.
With suspects detained, the investigative agency claimed that at least 35 instances of victims sent abroad have been “established”.
There continues to be a bit of confusion about the number of Indians who are working with the Russian army.
While the MEA has claimed that around 20 Indians have so far contacted the Indian embassy seeking their return, the numbers being bandied by security agencies is much higher.
Meanwhile, the Indian media reported on Friday that the CBI has found that just one of the agencies in Delhi allegedly sent around 180 people to Russia, mostly on student visas. The investigation team is now probing how all these people were sent to Russia and the role of embassy employees, The Indian Express reported.
