Gujarat MLA Urges PM Modi For Urgent Action As Over 100 Youths Trapped In Myanmar Seek Help

Gujarat’s Vadodara MLA Ketan Inamdar on Friday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for immediate intervention after a video emerged of more than 100 youths who became victims to an international cyber

scam racket.

One of the victims, Kunjan Shah from Sandhasal village, shared his ordeal through a viral audio message. “We were brought here in the name of jobs,” he said, his voice trembling. “But we were forced into illegal work for 14 to 18 hours daily. We escaped when we got a chance. Now we have no money, no phone balance, and no support.”

The victims, mostly from Vadodara district’s Savli and Desar talukas, said they were lured by fake data-entry job offers promising easy work and attractive salaries. However, soon after reaching Myanmar they reportedly faced confinement, coercion, and were forced to participate in illegal cybercrime operations, The New Indian Express reported.

They further stated that they were made to work for 14 to 18 hours everyday under threats.

According to The New Indian Express, their plight came to light after a video appeal surfaced on social media, showing exhausted and frightened youths pleading with the Government of India and the Ministry of External Affairs to rescue them.

The victims said their fear escalated when they read that the Ahmedabad Crime Branch had recently busted a Myanmar-based cybercrime racket. Realising they were likely entangled in the same criminal network, the youths fled the company, choosing uncertainty over captivity.

They claimed they have been hiding in “hell-like conditions” at a safe house operated by a local NGO in Myanmar’s Maya Wadi area for about 20 days.

While Myanmar authorities have claimed that their immigration status were cleared, the youths said no concrete assistance from Indian officials has reached them yet.

Meanwhile, the victims’ families in Gujarat have demanded the central government to work towards safe return of their children.

Kunjan’s parents, Jayeshbhai and Hansabhen, said he had travelled to Thailand and then to Myanmar four months ago in search of work.

“We don’t want money or compensation,” they said tearfully. “We just want our son and all the other children to come home safely.”

After the video emerged, Savli MLA Ketan Inamdar on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar urging immediate iintervention. He also asked Vadodara MP Hemang Joshi for support.

The New Indian Express quoted the MLA stating that Kunjan Shah and around 10 youths from Desar taluka, along with nearly 100 Indians, are currently stranded in Myanmar after being cheated under false job schemes. “This is not an isolated incident,” Inamdar said. “More than 100 Indian youths are suffering. Ten are from Vadodara district, and one is from my own village.”