A day after police and officials of the Revenue Department rescued a 24-year-old labourer who was chained at a silk factory in Ramanagara for nine days and forced to work, the Labour Department launched a probe against the factory on Wednesday, December 27. They recorded the statement of 20 workers on working conditions at the factory.
The police, on Tuesday, raided SIU Silks Factory situated in Mehaboob Nagara, Ramanagar, and rescued Mohammed Waseem, who had been chained and forced to work for nine days without a break to recover the ₹1.5 lakh loan he had taken from the owner.
Inquiries revealed that Waseem had joined the factory five months ago and had taken an advance amount of ₹1.5 lakh for a family emergency. Due to unavoidable circumstances, Waseem could not attend work for a month and later went to work nine days ago to resume duty. Enraged by this, the factory owner, Syed Isam, and supervisor, Syed Amjad, detained him illegally and chained him on the factory premises, asking him to work until he clears the dues.
