Reportedly, Signal International, a marine fabrication company, apparently recruited about 590 Indian workers though a Mumbai-based Dewan Consultants Pvt. Ltd..

About one hundred and twenty of these workers who went to the US later alleged that they had been treated inhumanly at work and walked out with the support of local activists. They also made allegations of human trafficking against the Dewan Consultants.

In India, the government filed a case of cheating against the recruitment agency and suspended the registration certificate issued to it under the Immigration Act, 1983, allegedly without verifying facts. Justice Rekha Sharma of the Delhi High Court then directed the government to dispose of the inquiry pending against the recruiters within one month pointing out that ‘The registration certificate of the petitioner is under suspension since March 10, 2008 and on account thereof, petitioner is unable to operate as a recruiting agent.’ (This certificate is required for it to recruit workers for employment overseas.)

In the US, the Indian shipyard workers initiated proceedings in the District Court of Louisiana in March. Around the same time, the US Department of Justice also launched an investigation into matter.