Labourers terrified by colleague’s death

Manama

An expat employee of a cleaning and maintenance company in Riffa yesterday sought help to return home at an Open House held by Indian Embassy.

He was a colleague of the labourer, who died last Sunday in a road accident while allegedly being chased by his foreman and employer.

Indian national Anoop Thevuruthy Chandran, who is terrified by the incident, accused his employer of brutal torture and requested the embassy to help him get his salary and return to India.

Anoop, who hails from Kerala, came to Bahrain in January last year to work as a cleaner at the company after paying for visa. He was reportedly promised BD 150 salary, but upon arrival he was paid only BD 120 per month. Also, he was made to work 12 hours a day.

Anoop complained salary started getting delayed by over 20 to 25 days withing a few months after joining. “Whenever we ask for salary the owner and supervisor would beat us up. There were 18 to 20 workers and all had to share a small room. We suffered all this at least to recover the money paid for visa.”

On June 12, Anoop and his colleague Ashkar ,who died on Sunday, were reportedly taken to the Isa Town police station by the employer after they stole an apple. “But police authorities found the complaint was baseless and released us. We knew we were not safe and tried to escape, but our Yemeni supervisor chased us,” he said.

He said they were crossing a road, but Ashkar was hit by a car. Anoop told DT News he would have tried to save Ashkar’s life, if the foreman had not chased him away,

He requested the embassy to consider this as a serious case and take appropriate action. DT News reported Monday the deceased’s colleagues approached the Indian embassy seeking help, but they are yet to get any.

Indian Embassy Counsellor Ram Singh said they would provide legal assistance to Anoop and directed him to approach the legal wing on Sunday. Ashkar’s dead body was transported to India on Thursday.