Two labourers, chained by coal mine operators in Gujarat's Surendranagar, were rescued in the early hours of Monday and two men have been arrested in connection with the case, the police said. Surendranagar is 120 km away from Ahmedabad.
The incident came to light after two labourers managed to escape from the coal mine at night and alerted the police about the two others in captivity, Sub Inspector ZL Odedara said.
Mine owner Vanraj and his partner Allanur Kathat have been arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for wrongful confinement, assault, criminal intimidation and other offences, Mr Odedara said, adding that one of the labourers, Mukesh Rathod, is from the Scheduled Caste.
"Mukesh Rathod, a resident of Jamnagar, came to Rajkot in search of work a week ago but failed to find any. On September 26, an auto driver lured him and three other labourers with high pay and free stay," he said.
"The auto driver then dropped the four men near Khakhrali, where they met Allanur Kathat. The next day, they were taken to Vanraj's coal mine where they were made to dig for coal," Mr Odedara said.
After the end of the first day of work, the four realised that the daily pay of Rs 500 for their work - from 7 am till after sunset - was very low and they informed Allanur Kathat that they were leaving.
"However, Kathat did not let them go and forced them to dig a pit for another four days. To make sure the four did not run away, Mr Kathat would tie them to his motorcycle with a metal chain at night," the official said.
Two of them managed to escape on September 30 and alerted police, who then rescued the others, he added.
