SIX Bangladeshis have been accused of kidnapping and torturing an Indian man while demanding ransom from his wife who lives overseas.
Prosecutors allege that the defendants threatened to kill the man if he did not repay a debt he owed to one of them, while video-calling his wife and making her watch them assault him.
At their first hearing on the High Criminal Court, only two appeared to deny the charges, while three were still at large. A sixth defendant could not be brought to court because he is currently under quarantine due to a scabies infection.
According to court documents, the alleged Indian victim had borrowed BD540 from the now-infected defendant, but was not able to pay him back for a number of months.
In April, the aforementioned defendant and five of his friends came to the Indian’s labour accommodation in Salmaniya and abducted him.
He was held captive in a workshop in Hamala, that the Bangladeshi defendants have access to due to working there, where he was assaulted for days.
“They video-called my wife back in India and threatened to kill me if she didn’t send them money,” the 43-year-old Indian restaurant worker recounted his ordeal to the Public Prosecution.
“All of the defendants, except one, beat me up for six days as I was held hostage in the warehouse,” he claimed.
The wife reportedly contacted her brother, who works in Bahrain, and showed him screen recordings of the harrowing video calls.
“I received a call from my sister, and she was crying while telling me that her husband was being held captive,” the brother-in-law told prosecutors.
“The defendant claimed that my brother-in-law stole BD650 from under his pillow and demanded a ransom of BD1,400, or he’d otherwise kill him.”
The defendants reportedly let the Indian go, dropping him off in Riffa when they learned that his brother-in-law had reported them to authorities, begging him not to also report them to the police.
Officers were able to arrest half of the alleged kidnappers, although the others have yet to be apprehended.
Judges adjourned the trial to Thursday for opening defence arguments.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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