Thiruvananthapuram: The family of Thomas Gabriel Perera, an auto-rickshaw driver from Kerala, who was shot dead by Jordanian soldiers on February 10, has claimed that he was a victim of a fake job racket. His brother-in-law Edison Charlas made this claim to a foreign media house after returning to India. Charlas had accompanied Perera to Jordan.
“We were offered high-paying, blue-collar jobs in Amman, Jordan. We were offered a salary of Rs 3.5 lakh per month. I paid an agent Rs 2.1 lakh and an additional $600 for a tourist visa. After we reached Amman, we realised that there were no jobs. The agent then said that there could be jobs in Israel, and we started moving towards the border,” Charlas said.
They apparently t
ravelled for nearly 10 hours by road from Amman to a coastal area. They got out of the car and started walking in the dark, in an attempt to cross over into Israel illegally. That is when shots were fired. Perera was hit in the head and died on the spot. Charlas also received minor injuries. He was treated in Jordan and spent over two weeks in jail there, before being extradited to India.
While Jordanian authorities said that the group was first warned and asked to stop, Charlas claimed otherwise. “There was no warning. Shots were fired suddenly. While Thomas was killed, I was hit and lost consciousness,” he said.
However, there is little that India’s Ministry of External Affairs can do, based on Charlas’ claims, as there is no doubt that they were attempting to cross the sensitive Jordan-Israel border illegally.
Perera’s body continues to remain in Jordan. The Indian embassy in Amman is in touch with Jordanian authorities for release of the body, after which, it will be sent back to India. The documentation could take a few more days. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has also said that the process is on.