MUMBAI: Trimbak Ghorpade, 59, a resident of Pathari village, in Parbhani district, registered an FIR at the Shirsala (Beed district) police station on April 23, alleging abduction, illegal confinement and assault for over a month – between March 10 and April 18 — at the hands of a contractor and his accomplices. Ghorpade had inked a contract with Vinayak Munde — a transporter and contractor attached with sugar factories in Karnataka — a resident of Dharur in Beed district, last year to supply 16 cane cutters to a sugar factory in the neighbouring state, on an agreement of ₹14 lakh. Part of the money was paid in instalments until February when the crushing season ended; but when Ghorpade approached Munde for the remaining sum, he was allegedly held captive and assaulted by him.
In his FIR, Ghorpade alleged assault and abuse with casteist slurs; and being forced to sign documents including property papers and blank cheques. “Munde and his accomplices forced me to sign papers declaring that I owed them ₹10 lakh. My house was transferred in their name through forged documents. I was denied food and medical treatment and was not allowed to contact my family members,” Ghorpade stated in the FIR.
Bitter harvest
The end of the sugarcane crushing season in Marathwada and neighbouring states brings a sense of foreboding to the migrant labourers and their agents. Rather than feeling joyous about re-uniting with their families with sizeable earnings for the year, they are often haunted by the grim reality of exploitation – cases of kidnapping and abduction are reported cyclically in Beed and neighbouring districts.
At least six such cases were registered in Beed and other districts between April 23 and May 4, 2026, involving cane cutters allegedly abducted, kidnapped and assaulted over claims that they owed money taken as advances for cane cutting contracts.
Like Ghorpade, similar FIRs have been registered by family members of cane cutters in Ghatnandur and Dharur, in Beed district, over the last two days.
Bapurao Chavan, a mukadam or labour contractor from Ghatnandur, was allegedly kidnapped by four persons last week while on his way to meet labourers to recover advances given to them. Police have registered an FIR against four unidentified persons. On Monday, Siminta Maind lodged an FIR at Dharur police station, Beed, alleging that her husband, Dinkar Maind, was kidnapped by four unidentified persons travelling in a four-wheeler. “He is a cane cutter, who has been kidnapped at the behest of a local politician. He will be responsible if anything happens to my husband. The kidnapping stemmed from a dispute over contract money for supplying cane cutters,” she alleged. There are several such FIRs registered in other parts of Beed.
Complainants are often beleaguered by slack police action. As Ghorpade said, “It’s been two weeks since the FIR was registered; action is yet to be taken. Despite meeting police officials regularly, I have not received any firm response from them. The accused transferred my house to their name and took blank cheques signed by me, and yet no action has been taken.”
He added that like him, at least three to four other cane cutters from Koyal village, in Dharur, were allegedly beaten up by the accused, but the labourers chose not to lodge formal complaints.
Rampant abuse
Ashok Tangade of Jagar Pratisthan, an organisation that works for the rights of cane cutters, said hundreds of such incidents occur every year in Marathwada. “Only a few cases are registered because labourers are often unable to muster the courage to approach police. Mukadams, who supply labour to sugar factories, exploit labourers by taking advantage of their illiteracy and poverty. In many cases, workers continue cutting cane for years while the debt is carried forward. Some mukadams resort to kidnapping and abduction to recover money,” he said.
Jeevan Rathod, president of Maharashtra Shramik Usatodani ani Vahatuk Kamgar Sanghatana, another organisation that works with cane cutters, alleged 16 cane cutters along with their children were recently kept in captivity in Karnataka for two weeks over claims that advances given to them were not returned. “Many labourers are unable to lodge police complaints because of political and police pressure. The state government should ensure that cane cutters are not forced to depend on advances from contractors and sugar factories, as the advance payment system is the root cause of the problem,” he said.
Sachin Pandkar, additional superintendent of police, Beed, said, “Local police stations investigate such cases and take action. However, there are several angles to these cases – in some instances both sides level allegations against each other.”
A police officer from the Beed commissionerate admitted that cases of atrocities against migrant labourers have increased in recent years. “Similar cases are also registered in western Maharashtra as well as in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where labourers migrate during the crushing season,” the officer said.
More than half a million cane cutters migrate every year from Marathwada, particularly Beed district, to western Maharashtra and neighbouring states for the six-month sugarcane crushing season between September and February-March.
