‘For 13 days, we were beaten with knives, belts'

Indian Express

a day ago

I had never imagined that my dream to go abroad would turn into a near-death experience.
With only a small stretch of land in our name, my family had been farming on leased land for the past few years. But the income wasn't enough. We started to think of going abroad to build a better future, like many others in our village.
It was in April this year when my family and I approached Dheeraj Atwal, a travel agent from Hoshiarpur. He had already sent my younger brother to Dubai a few months earlier, and we trusted him. I told him I wanted to go to the UK, where some of my relatives live. But he suggested Australia, saying there was a special migration scheme and promised to get me a visa, a direct flight to Australia, and a work permit within a month for Rs 18 lakh. My parents arranged the money by borrowing from relatives and taking loans at high interest rates, and we handed over the amount.
On April 25, Dheeraj called me to Delhi as my flight was scheduled from Delhi to Australia. But then he put me up in a hotel, saying flights were delayed. For five days, I waited, and he told me thrice that the flight had been cancelled or delayed. Then, early morning on April 30, I was put on a flight — not to Australia, but to Dubai. Another young man, Husanpreet, 27, from Punjab's Dhuri area (District Sangrur), was sent with me. He had paid the same amount.
We waited for seven hours at Dubai airport, and from Dubai, we were put on a flight to Tehran, Iran. We reached there the same evening. Our agent told us that from Tehran we would be flying to Australia on May 1. After we landed at Tehran airport, Atwal told us the flight to Australia was delayed and would now leave on May 3. Later, another person, Jaspal from Punjab's Nawanshahr, also joined us. He had been sent by the same agent to Tehran on another flight from Dubai. Atwal then asked us to leave the airport and go with his men.
When we insisted on staying at the airport, he said what we would do at the airport for two days and said local agents would pick us up and take care of us. He asked us to send him our airport photos so his men could identify us. Within minutes, two men approached us — showing the very photos we had sent. They spoke Punjabi and introduced themselves as Shera and Haji from Pakistan. We were wary but had no choice. Even Husanpreet's bag, which was inside the airport, was collected by them.
The three of us were squeezed into a five-seater car along with Shera, Haji and the driver. After travelling for one and a half hours, they stopped the vehicle and brought in another cab, shifting Jaspal and Husanpreet to that one with a man named Sultan, an Iranian. I stayed with Haji. They said that it was difficult to sit in a single car.
Haji soon asked for my phone. I refused. He then made me speak to Dheeraj, who told me to hand over the phone and switch off the location 'for security reasons'. I did. Then he took my passport too on the pretence of security reasons. We were driven for three hours to a village. I was the first to arrive and taken to a house that had iron grills all around and two gates. It had one big and one small room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Inside were six to seven heavily built men speaking Punjabi and Persian. They said they were from Pakistan. I was literally scared as their looks were quite dangerous, and one of them was snorting drugs continuously through his nose.
I was told to sit and wait. Once Jaspal and Husanpreet arrived, we were offered tea, but we refused. Then they asked us how much money we had. We didn't want to tell them, but they forcibly took our money — Australian Dollar 1,000 each from me and Husanpreet, and Euro 1,060 from Jaspal. They also took our bags, clothes, and everything of value. Our phones were already with them.
In the late evening or maybe midnight, they started playing loud music and took us to the small room where they asked us to remove our clothes, and they tied our hands. They started beating us with belts and knives. I received five cuts on the back of both my thighs. Jaspal and Husanpreet were similarly injured. They recorded videos of our bloodied bodies and called our families, demanding a Rs 2 crore ransom. 'Pay, or we'll be killed,' they asked us to tell our families. My parents were terrified and said that the amount was too huge. Then they snapped the call, and the next day during the night, the same thing was repeated, and after three to four days, the kidnappers reduced the amount to Rs 1 crore, and then to Rs 54 lakh. But our families couldn't pay, as it was impossible after already paying Rs 18 lakh each to the agent.
From May 1 to May 13, the beatings continued daily. They made us do sit-ups during the day, forced us into the murga (stress) position at night, hung us upside down, and tortured us with knives. They barely fed us and gave us almost no water. We were allowed to use the washroom only after two to three days. That's where we drank water in secret.
Our injuries became infected. Blood oozed from our wounds. When they feared we might die, they then provided Betadine ointment to us. On May 13, they shifted us to another village, about 45 minutes away. Before the move, they gave us something toxic. We were feeling numb.
Gradually, my vision got blurred, and the condition of Husanpreet and Jaspal also worsened. On May 17, the kidnappers kidnapped a group of 10-11 Pakistani youth who were going through the 'dunki route' to some European countries and Australia. That group was also brought to the same house, and now the kidnappers' focus shifted towards them because our families were not in a position to pay them. They made us listen to an audio of Dheeraj where he was telling them to kill us.
Meanwhile, they made us pose as their accomplices in front of the newly kidnapped group and even forced us to beat the new group. They threatened to kill us if we refused. This practice went on for another two weeks until we were finally released from their clutches.
On June 1, something happened that changed everything. One of the kidnappers, called Fauji, needed an app downloaded on his phone. He asked us for help, and Husanpreet volunteered. While downloading the app, Hussanpreet switched on the location of Fauji's mobile phone as it was an Android phone.
After two hours of this incident, the Iranian Police and the local Criminal Investigation Department raided the place. They entered by mimicking Sultan's knock — a specific pattern he used on the door and the window. The kidnappers opened the gate, thinking it was Sultan. The police burst in and asked, 'Who are the three Indians?' I raised my hand first. Husanpreet and Jaspal followed.
They immediately took us out and showed us some media reports with our photos and confirmed our identities. We all were rescued. The police arrested all the kidnappers, except Sultan, who wasn't staying there permanently.
We were taken to the Indian Embassy in Tehran. They gave us shelter, food, medical treatment, and emotional care. We took a bath after almost 31 days.
During our rescue process and our stay in the shelter, we got to know that around May 26 or 27, the Indian Embassy in Tehran got wind of our situation. And then several media reports were also published carrying the statements of our parents in Punjab.
The local police in Iran then started an investigation. Meanwhile, the kidnappers had handed over Hussanpreet's iPhone to Fauji's girlfriend. The woman could not reset his phone, and she started using his phone as it is, because of which the police found her location and she was arrested along with her family.
We stayed in Iran until our white passports were issued on June 14. Due to the Iran-Israel conflict, our return was delayed further. Finally, on June 23, two others and I came back to India.
The Indian government and the Embassy saved our lives. But the Punjab government disappointed us deeply. Despite repeated pleas, they did not act promptly. Even the First Information Report (FIR) was filed late on May 17, while we were kidnapped on April 30. No timely action was taken against the agent. Our families had been running from pillar to post – approaching the police, politicians, anyone who would listen. But no one helped. Only after persistent efforts, an FIR was filed at Hoshiarpur's Model Town police station. It has been five days since we returned, but no one from the local police or the government has contacted us.
My legs are still numb. I got an MRI and CT scan done. I don't talk much, as I'm mentally disturbed. But I wanted to share my story so that no other youth falls into this trap.
As told to Anju Agnihotri Chaba