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On April 5, 2025, a Malayalam news channel aired a video in which an employee can be seen crawling on all fours on the floor of an office, with a leash around his neck. In another clip, an employee is seen licking coins off the ground while being ridiculed by a few people around him. The visuals were from the office of Keltro, a private business firm in Kerala’s Ernakulam, which deals in consumer goods, electricals, and surgical supplies.
Former employees of Keltro told TNM that the visuals showed the ‘punishment’ meted out to those who failed to meet sales targets. Curiously, these strange and humiliating punishments were inflicted by employees on each other on orders from the management in the guise of ‘motivation’ and ‘competition’.
Apart from this, most employees were hired for managerial positions but forced to do door-to-door sales, claiming it was for ‘skill development’. Many of them told TNM that they quit in a few months because they were made to work long hours for seven days a week and not paid any salary.
After the video went viral, a probe is underway under the direction of Kerala’s Minister for Labour, V Sivankutty.
Unusually, similar patterns of harassment were reported in a few other companies as well. Although the companies are unrelated, former employees – including those at Keltro – believe they are all owned by a businessman named Joy Joseph.
What is emerging a month after the initial outrage is a story of workplace and state apathy, harassment across a web of companies, and a deliberate attempt to hoodwink young employees.
From taunting to exploitation
Akhil Antony, an ex-employee of Keltro, told TNM that he faced extreme mental and physical harassment during the five months that he worked there. He joined the Keltro Group’s Aluva branch in May 2024 and quit five months later because of alleged harassment by the firm’s general manager, Hubail KP.
“Most of us employees couldn’t afford to quit due to financial struggles. We were trapped,” the 24-year-old said.
Akhil had applied for the job at Keltro through a newspaper advertisement. He was told that he would be given a permanent managerial position after six months of training. During the training period, he was promised a salary ranging between Rs 8,000-10,000. But Akhil quit in September, as he did not receive any compensation while facing harassment all the time.
He alleged that employees who did not meet daily targets were given severe punishments.
“One day, they filled my mouth with salt and asked me to squat, imagining that I was sitting on a chair. They forced me to remain that way for an hour. I have endured more such punishments,” Akhil said.
According to Akhil, employees have been ‘ragged’ a lot, often sexually. “They have also forced some employees to lick the toilets in the office,” Akhil told TNM.
He explained that Keltro hired people as managers but forced them to do door-to-door sales, claiming it was for skill development. Employees were made to work 10-12 hours every day, without any days off. They were supposed to be given formal offer letters after the training ended, but the company never kept its promise.
Akhil further said that the office building doubled up as the residence of the employees. “The company would take away our phones and allow us to use them only after we got back from sales calls. Even when we spoke to our family, a company representative would accompany us,” he said.
A week before the harassment visuals were aired, Akhil and four of his former colleagues had filed a complaint with the Perumbavoor police against the company for workplace harassment. Akhil told TNM that although Hubail was named in their complaint, the police did not take any action.
Subeesh, a former employee of Keltro, died by suicide in 2023 in the company’s office building in Udayamperoor. He had joined the firm in 2020. At the time, police concluded that his death was due to the failure of a romantic relationship.
However, when the ‘punishment’ video went viral, Subeesh’s mother made serious allegations, claiming that mental harassment at the workplace was what pushed her son to take his own life.
“Whenever he came home, they would never allow him to take his belongings – even his wallet and government ID cards were taken away. He had dreams of buying a vehicle, building a house, and supporting his father financially,” she told the media.
A web of dubious companies?
When Minister Sivankutty spoke to the media immediately after the punishment video surfaced, he said, “A place like Kerala cannot tolerate what happened. The incident occurred in Hindustan Power Links (HPL), a private marketing company based in Kochi. I have instructed the district labour officer to visit the company and submit a report within two days.”
This is because the Minister, like most of Keltro’s ex-employees, believed that Keltro came under HPL, which is owned by Joy Joseph. HPL is in the wholesale and retail manufacturing business.
“I learned through my colleagues that Joy Joseph was part of the upper management. Some of them told me that Joy would be present during the annual event where promotions were announced,” Akhil said.
However, Joy has denied any association with Keltro.
Arun Das joined Enzon Corporation in 2015 after graduating, having come across the job advertisement under the name Cellon Group in a newspaper. Following an interview, he was hired in the sales department and worked there for three years. He told TNM that he was never given an appointment letter or ID card, and claims the company didn’t even maintain an attendance register.
“They advertise under different names, but I was made to sell products from three companies – Hindustan Power Links, German Physical Laboratory (GPL), and Sevana Curry Powder,” Arun said. He also said he attended a motivational class by Joy.
According to Arun, the company representatives disguised harassment as motivation. He alleged that he was made to crawl on the office floor and stairs, and hold on to a window as punishment for not achieving targets.
“Those who achieved their sales targets were asked to punish the others who fell short. The punishments were aimed at insulting the employees, which the company called motivation. Their method was to pit employees against one another so that they are motivated to achieve targets to get back at each other,” Arun said.
In 2012, a group of youngsters in Thiruvananthapuram raised complaints of cheating and labour exploitation against companies allegedly owned by Joy Joseph. They said that these companies operated under different names like Sevana Curry Powder, GE-Tech, Bentech, HPL, GPL, and others.
Abhijith, a native of Kozhikode who worked with Simtone, another firm allegedly owned by HPL, had registered a complaint in 2022 against HPL and GPL with the district labour officer. The complaint alleged job scams by these companies, long working hours of 6.30 am to 12 midnight, not providing offs or leaves, and not paying salaries properly.
However, after investigation, the Kothamangalam labour officer declared that there was no workplace harassment in those companies.
Aswathy, who worked at GPL in 2017, told TNM that there was no gender difference when the employees were given punishment. After completing her Class 12, Aswathy joined GPL’s Nadakkavu office in Ernakulam and worked there for a year.
“Can you imagine washing your face with water that was used to wash someone’s feet? Or eating bird’s eye chilli [a variety of extremely spicy chilli] and spinning on one leg? These are the punishments they inflicted upon us. I once fainted after eating bird’s eye chilli,” Aswathy added.
Despite multiple complaints of harassment and fraud over the years, the Labour Department appears disinterested in conducting a thorough investigation. Most departmental inquiries have ended with the conclusion that there was no harassment – based mostly on interactions with current employees.
Punishments a ‘routine practice’
Hashim, the man seen holding the leash in the viral video, blamed his former colleague Manaf – then a manager at Keltro – for coercing them into the act. Hashim denied fellow employee Akhil’s claims that such incidents had occurred previously.
“It was the first time. Our general manager Hubail was on leave that day. When he returned, we reported the incident and Manaf was dismissed,” Hashim told TNM.
He added that Manaf filmed the video and was now using it to damage the company’s reputation. “People recognise us in that video. This will affect our door-to-door sales,” said Hashim, who claimed he is still associated with Keltro. However, when asked to produce his Keltro ID card, he said he had joined a different company. “Our manager Hubail had personal issues, so we switched companies,” he said, adding that he had submitted his Keltro ID to his new employer.
Meanwhile, Manaf told TNM that the video captured a routine practice at the office. “There were five managers, including me, when that incident happened. It was an everyday occurrence. We were asked to record and send such clips to Hubail,” he claimed, stating that the video in circulation was filmed on December 18, 2024.
Manaf said managers were required to report to work by 7 am and document all activities – punishments included – via photos and videos and send them to a WhatsApp group that included Hubail and other managers. “Hubail oversees six or seven offices, so he wasn’t physically present at our office every day. If we failed to send updates, we were fined,” he alleged.
When Manaf joined the company, he was told that HPL was the head office and Joy Joseph was the Managing Director. He said that harassment was encouraged as a way to instill a ‘competitive mindset’ among employees.
Two cases were filed against Manaf after the video went viral. One by a group of employees alleging harassment, and one by a female employee alleging her modesty was outraged. Manaf says these were filed as vendetta.
Sexual abuse
In December 2024, Hubail was arrested following a sexual abuse complaint filed by Anna*, a woman who had worked at Keltro. According to the Perumbavoor police, Hubail spent two months in jail before being granted bail. “During the investigation, we spoke to other women employees, but none of them reported any instances of workplace or sexual harassment,” Station House Officer TM Soofi said.
Anna had joined Keltro in October 2024 and left the company in December. She alleged that Hubail would often visit the office at night to review sales figures. On one such night, he summoned the women employees to the terrace one by one, saying he needed to speak with each of them individually.
“When I went to the terrace, he sexually assaulted me,” Anna told TNM. “I said no several times, but he wouldn’t stop. He first claimed that he thought of us like sisters and daughters. Then he said he had family issues. Eventually, he tried to justify his actions by claiming it would improve my productivity.”
According to Anna, when she confided about Hubail’s advances to her colleagues, including a female manager, she realised she wasn’t alone. “There are multiple survivors,” she said. “When I told a colleague that I planned to file a complaint, she warned me that another woman who tried to report him earlier was labelled mentally unstable by Hubail.”
“They never allowed us to leave the company,” Anna added. “On my first day, I wanted to quit when I realised the job involved fieldwork. But they kept trying to convince me to stay. They’d say things like, ‘Your parents worked under the scorching sun for years—can’t you do this for six months to support your family?’”
Anna had also applied for the job thinking it was a managerial role, as the designation said ‘assistant manager’.
Aswathy told TNM that she had not experienced sexual abuse nor did she hear of such cases when she was working with GPL. “But if customers misbehaved with us, the company never supported us,” she said. “They would also mock female employees, suggesting we met sales targets through ‘other means.’”
Accused denies allegations
Joy Joseph, while denying all the allegations, told the media that Keltro was an agency to which he supplied products based on requirements.
“They pay us and we issue stock. Beyond that, we have no idea about their marketing,” he said.
When asked about a video circulating on social media that showed him participating in an event organised by Keltro, Joy claimed that he was invited by the company, like many others, to attend the event.
TNM accessed the GST numbers of Keltro, HPL, and GPL and found that they are registered under different individuals and addresses. While many former employees believe these are shell operations run by Joy, proving such a connection would be difficult.
A Labour Officer from Ernakulam filed a report with the State Labour Commissioner stating that the incident that occurred was not workplace harassment. However, the Department has initiated an inquiry into private marketing companies to prevent similar incidents in the future. On April 9, Minister Sivankutty ordered the Labour Commissioner to submit a detailed report, citing that the initial report was ambiguous.
The new report states that the Labour Commissioner has instructed the district labour officers to conduct inspections at nearly 100 agencies that sell HPL products. Additionally, the labour officers are instructed to verify whether these offices provide minimum wages to employees and comply with other labour laws.
However, the new report did not confirm the allegations of workplace harassment.
Meanwhile, the Labour Department issued a notice to HPL following an inspection during which the company failed to produce key legal documents, including those related to the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, the Minimum Wages Act, and the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act. The Department has directed the company to submit the required records within five days. However, according to the Additional Labour Commissioner, the company has not yet produced any of the documents, so the Department had issued a show cause notice.
With editing inputs from Vidya Sigamany