4 members of Hinduja family get prison in Switzerland for exploiting domestic workers
Geneva (AP): An Indian-born billionaire and three family members were sentenced to prison on Friday for exploiting domestic workers at their lakeside villa in Switzerland by seizing their passports, barring them from going out and making them work up to 18 hours a day.
A Swiss court dismissed more serious charges of human trafficking against 79-year-old tycoon Prakash Hinduja; his wife, Kamal; son Ajay and daughter-in-law Namrata on the grounds that the workers understood what they were getting into, at least in part. The four received between four and 4 1/2 years in prison.
The workers were mostly illiterate Indians who were paid not in Swiss francs but in Indian rupees, deposited in banks back home that they couldn't access.
Lawyers representing the defendants said they would appeal.
Robert Assael, a lawyer for Kamal Hinduja, said he was “relieved” that the court threw out the trafficking charges but called the sentence excessive.
“The health of our clients is very poor, they are elderly people,” he said, explaining why the family was not in court. He said Hinduja's 75-year-old wife was in intensive care and the family was with her.
A fifth defendant - Najib Ziazi, the family's business manager - received an 18-month suspended sentence.
Last week, it emerged in court that the family had reached an undisclosed settlement with the plaintiffs. Swiss authorities have seized diamonds, rubies, a platinum necklace and other jewelry and assets in anticipation that they could be used to pay for legal fees and possible penalties.
Along with three brothers, Prakash Hinduja leads an industrial conglomerate in sectors including information technology, media, power, real estate and health care. Forbes magazine has put the Hinduja family's net worth at some $20 billion.
The family set up residence in Switzerland in the 1980s, and Hinduja was convicted in 2007 on similar charges. A separate tax case brought by Swiss authorities is pending against Hinduja, who obtained Swiss citizenship in 2000.
In this case, the court said the four were guilty of exploiting the workers and providing unauthorised employment, giving meager if any health benefits and paying wages that were less than one-tenth the pay for such jobs in Switzerland.
Prosecutors said workers described a “climate of fear” instituted by Kamal Hinduja. They were forced to work with little or no vacation time, and worked even later hours for receptions. They slept in the basement, sometimes on a mattress on the floor.
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Konkan railway collects Rs 2.41 crores from pilferage in February
Karwar: The Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) collected Rs 2.41 crore in fines and ticket charges from ticketless and unauthorized passengers during February as part of a special ticket-checking campaign conducted across the Konkan Railway route.
According to a press release issued by the corporation, the amount collected in February stood at Rs 2.41 crore, slightly lower than the Rs 2.53 crore collected during January.
The release stated that during February alone, railway staff conducted 873 special ticket-checking operations on the Konkan Railway route. During these drives, a total of 41,522 ticketless and unauthorized passengers were detected and fined, resulting in the collection of Rs 2.41 crore.
KRCL further said that since the beginning of the financial year 2025–26, a total of 10,368 special ticket-checking operations have been conducted up to the end of February.
During these operations, 4,54,849 ticketless and unauthorized passengers were identified, and a total of Rs 25.21 crore was collected as fines and deposited into the railway treasury.
The corporation stated that the special drives are being carried out with the support of railway officials and personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) both in trains and at railway stations along the Konkan Railway route.
Officials of Konkan Railway have appealed to passengers travelling on the route to purchase valid tickets before boarding trains in order to avoid inconvenience.
The release also stated that ticket-checking drives will be intensified across all Konkan Railway routes in the coming days.
