By Waquar Hasan
Arun Kumar, an unemployed youth from Gopalganj in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur district, was desperate for a job to support his family after the death of his parents. As the sole breadwinner, he faced mounting pressure. This is when he came across social media influencer Balwant Kataria, popularly known as Bobby Kataria, on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Kataria, with his promises of lucrative job opportunities in countries like the UAE, Canada, and Saudi Arabia, seemed to be a beacon of hope.
When Kumar contacted Kataria, he was asked to visit Kataria’s office in Gurgaon. On February 1, Kumar met Kataria, who promised him a job in the UAE with a salary of Rs 45,000-50,000. However, this promise came with a steep price: Rs 2 lakh as a processing fee.
Desperate for a stable income, Kumar agreed and paid an initial registration fee of Rs 2,000.
"Ten to fifteen days later, I got a call from him asking for Rs 50,000 more to continue the process of the job," Kumar told Decode.
Days after, Kumar still received no job offer. Instead, he was informed that the opportunities in Dubai no longer existed. He was asked to pay Rs 1 lakh for a different job in another country.
On March 28, Kumar was sent to Laos, a country he knew little about.
Trapped in a Nightmare
Upon arrival in Laos, Kumar was taken to a benami Chinese company. His passport was confiscated, and he was subjected to violence for refusing to work in the shadowy firm.
Forced into cyberfraud, he and other trafficked individuals from various countries faced severe threats. “They were threatened that if they will not do what those people want, they will never be able to go back to their country. They will be killed, and their passports will be torn apart,” reads the FIR lodged at the Bashghera police station in Gurgaon.
After enduring two days of forced labor, Kumar and his friend Manish Tomar, another victim from Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur, escaped to the Indian embassy with the help of Indian officials.
Once they managed to return to India, they filed a police complaint in Gurgaon.
Tomar, too, had been duped by Kataria, who had promised him a job in Singapore but instead sent him to Laos after extracting Rs 2.5 lakh.
The FIR revealed a grim reality: Kumar and Tomar were among at least 150 Indians, including women, held hostage and forced to work in these illegal companies in Laos. "There were many Indians trapped in those companies. Their passports were taken away. They were forced to work 14 hours a day without a day off. If they didn’t work, they were given electric shocks,” Kumar alleged.
The Man Behind the Scheme: Bobby Kataria
On May 27, Gurgaon police arrested Kataria at his office, MBK Global Consultancy, in the city. Kataria also operated offices in Faridabad, Sikar (Rajasthan), Nabha (Punjab), and Singapore.
Kataria’s Instagram account with over 4 lakh followers was taken down soon after his arrest. His YouTube account was also suspended. However, Decode found that there are still pages and accounts with Bobby Kataria’s name on Facebook.
For instance, a Facebook page called Bobby Kataria Gurgaon has 3.2 lakh followers, Bobby Kataria Team has 1.6 lakh followers and a page called Bobby Kataria has 41 k followers. There are several videos on these pages where Kataria can be seen offering job opportunities in foreign countries.
In a video posted on Facebook by Bobby Kataria Team on 17 May, he can be seen advertising job offers in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
In one of his videos, Kataria advertised a job opportunity in Saudi Arabia, offering a salary of 1,800 Riyals with food included for electrical and mechanical technicians.
In a video posted on 17 March, he says he can provide a job in Mexico within 72 hours. In another video posted a day before, Kataria says that if someone is stuck without a passport in the UK, he can manage to get them one in a week.
In another Facebook reel, the social media influencer says he can help Indians get to the United States via Canada. He, however, says that he can explain the procedure only on meeting him and paying a registration fee of Rs 2,000.
In another video posted on the Bobby Kataria Gurgaon page on 26 April, the influencer offers visit visa, work permit and job in Canada. The video has received 24,000 likes, 1300 comments and 347 shares. The comments section is filled with desperate pleas for jobs.
Kataria, a body-builder, started the work of so-called job consultancy in February 2023. On social media, he also provided fitness and nutrition tips.
In September 2022, Kataria was booked for smoking in the airplane. In October 2022, he was booked after he uploaded a video of himself drinking alcohol in the middle of the road. According to Gurgaon police, there are seven cases against Kataria.
The reporter tried to speak to Kataria’s family but they were unresponsive.
The Legal Fallout
Kataria’s arrest uncovered a web of deceit and human trafficking. Nine to ten individuals filed complaints at the Bashghera police station in Gurugram, describing similar experiences of being promised jobs in one country but sent to another, having their money taken, and receiving no job in return.
Inspector Ashok Kumar of Basghera police station confirmed the scale of the operation, noting that partners of Kataria in foreign countries were instrumental in the trafficking and fraud.
“The complainants said that they were promised job in a particular country but were sent to another country. They escaped from there. The money charged for providing jobs were not returned. they were wronged,” Ashok Kumar, an inspector at the Basghera police station, told Decode.
“There were people from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and other states. They were contacting Kataraia for jobs after watching his videos on social media,” he added.
Kataria was charged under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 323 (causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 420 (cheating), 364 (abduction), 370 (buying and disposing of any person as a slave), and 120B (criminal conspiracy), as well as section 10/24 of the Immigration Act.
The FIR mentioned three more names— Abhi, Ankit Shouqeen, and Nitesh Sharma, who were allegedly Kataria’s partners in Laos.
The case was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The NIA’s investigation revealed an organised trafficking syndicate luring and trafficking Indian youth to foreign countries with false promises of legal employment. These individuals were forced to work in fake call centers in Laos, the Golden Triangle SEZ, and Cambodia, involved in illegal activities such as credit card fraud and cryptocurrency scams.
In a statement issued on 27 May, the NIA said that it had arrested four more accused from from Vadodara, Gopalganj, Delhi and Chandigarh.
“NIA investigations have revealed the accused to be involved in an organized trafficking syndicate engaged in luring and trafficking Indian youth to foreign countries on the false promises of legal employment. The youth were being forced to work in fake call centers at Laos, Golden Triangle SEZ, and Cambodia, among other places, as part of the racket, controlled and operated mainly by foreign nationals. They were coerced into undertaking illegal activities online, such as credit card fraud, investments in Crypto currency using fake applications, honey trapping etc,” reads the statement.
The probe agency further revealed that the arrested accused were coordinating with traffickers operating from across the international borders. They were working at the behest of foreign-based agents belonging to well organised syndicates that were active in several districts of Maharashtra.
With Kataria in jail now, Kumar, who has studied until the 12th grade, is still looking for a job. He is currently making his livelihood with the money his parents left behind after their death.
He told Decode that while he is thankful to have escaped the clutches of a trafficker, he is concerned about those held hostage in Laos.
"I filed a complaint with the police so that all those hapless people who are trapped in Laos will be rescued. I have seen four women trapped there," he said.
"When I think about what happened to me, I'm thankful that I came back home. There are many who could not return from there," Kumar added.
