It was alleged that the Russian employer didn't even provide money for bringing the body home.
An Indian man who was stuck in Russia along with 25 others after being cheated by a travel agent died after his employers denied him timely medical aid, a friend said on Saturday.
Malkiat Singh (30) died of ill-health after the company he was working with did not provide him timely medical aid, his friend alleged. The youth was cremated at Pasla village here on Friday.
Malkiat Singh's friend, Joginderpal from Rurka village, brought his body back to India. He is survived by his father, wife and two children.
Joginderpal alleged that the company did not provide any money for bringing Malkiat Singh's body back to India either. "We managed to do it only by pooling in Rs 4-5 lakh for the purpose," he said.
Joginderpal alleged that he even faced difficulties in making the company return his passport, so he could bring his friend's body back home. "The company threatened that in case I did not return, all the other Indians stranded there would not be allowed to return," he alleged, urging the government to rescue them.
Joginderpal alleged that an unscrupulous travel agent of nearby Khurampur village, Daljit Singh, had cheated the youths of over Rs 34 lakh on the promise of getting them jobs in Russia with hefty salaries. Each of them was made to cough up Rs 1.32 lakh, he said, adding that none of them was given job in the promised company.
The 26 men had gone to Russia seven months ago.
The travel agent was arrested under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC, and Section 13 of the Punjab Professionals Act, 2014, Senior Superintendent of Police Satinder Singh said.
He said Daljit Singh was arrested on the complaint of Jarnail Singh, a resident of Mallo Majra village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district. The complainant told police that the agent had duped every youth of Rs 1.32 lakh on the pretext of getting them a good job.
The agent was produced in a local court, which remanded him in three-day police custody, Mr Singh added.
Twenty-six youths of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala were stuck in Russia after they were cheated by the travel agent, a resident of Khurampur village near Phagwara.