Nagesh, a 45‑year‑old farmer from Kotha Tarlapadu village in Telangana, left his home with Rs 80,000 after a Jagtial‑based agent assured him a monthly wage of Rs 1.2 lakh and that he would not have to pay rent in Oman.
The day he arrived, the promised job vanished. Instead, he was forced into domestic work, paid only Rs 75 a day, and denied regular meals. In a raw video sent from Muscat, he pleaded for help, saying the agent had abandoned him in a harsh situation with no support.
His appeal is not an isolated incident. Over the past three years, Telangana lodged 339 complaints about fraudulent overseas recruitment, making it one of the states with the highest numbers nationally. Meanwhile, Gulf‑country complaints have surged to more than 80,000, with Oman accounting for about 13,000 of those cases.
The state’s own data shows that many of these complaints involve unregistered agents and false promises, echoing the pattern seen in Nagesh’s story. Shabnam Begum from Hyderabad and a 45‑year‑old woman from Warangal have also reported being trafficked and illegally confined in Muscat after being lured by recruiters offering house‑maid jobs.
Nagesh’s family, who are receiving his frantic messages, fear the worst while he remains trapped in a foreign land with no proper wages or accommodation. As he seeks intervention, the Telangana government has yet to issue a formal response, but the Ministry of External Affairs has promised to investigate the case and facilitate his return.
The next step will be a formal inquiry by the ministry, followed by a repatriation plan if the allegations are confirmed. The outcome could set a precedent for how India handles migrant worker scams in the Gulf region.