MEERUT, Dec. 29 -- Nine residents of Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district, who had been trapped in Kyrgyzstan for the past three months after falling victim to an overseas job fraud, returned home safely on Saturday (December 27), officials said on Sunday. They further said the remaining three men trapped in the Central Asian country are expected to return by December 30 as their visas remain valid until December 31. Pilibhit district magistrate Gyanendra Singh said the process for the return of the remaining three men was almost complete and they would be brought back before the year end. He also urged people to remain vigilant against fraudsters offering lucrative overseas jobs. All 12 victims belong to Barkhera, Puranpur, Diyoria and Gajraula police station areas of Pilibhit district. They were allegedly duped by the owner of a recruiting agency based in Pilibhit city, who promised them jobs abroad and collected Rs.2.5 lakh from each to arrange travel and employment that later turned out to be non-existent. The scam came to light after a video posted by Rohit, one of the 12 stranded men, surfaced on social media. Following the video's circulation on December 5, Rohit's wife Premvati and relatives of other victims approached district authorities, seeking help for their immediate return. According to officials, Ravi Kumar, Ajay, Chandrapal, Santram, Rohit, Ramesh, Harswaroop, Shyamacharan, Sanjeev, Prempal, Ramasare and Harishankar were sent to Kyrgyzstan on 59-day visas with a fraudulent contract. After reaching there, they neither received the promised jobs nor the agreed wages. Instead, they were allegedly held hostage, forced into work they had not signed up for and denied salaries. The men shared videos online narrating their ordeal and appealed to the Indian government for help. Pilibhit superintendent of police Abhishek Yadav said an investigation into the matter had been assigned to the circle officer (city). Earlier, Union minister and Pilibhit MP Jitin Prasada met the victims' families in Delhi and took up the matter with the Indian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan to facilitate the workers' return. Farmer leader Dev Swaroop Patel also met the returning men in Bareilly on Saturday and said travel arrangements were still pending for Harishankar of Jironia village, Ramasare of Bhuda Pipariya village and Shyam Charan of Baiju Nagar village. The victims and their relatives have appealed to Prasada to ensure strict action against those responsible for cheating them and to help recover their money....