A former supervisor of the banana leaf restaurant has been arrested and kept in custody, Petaling Jaya police chief Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid said today.

The two victims have been placed in a men’s shelter under a 21-day interim protection order.

The rescue of the two workers comes in the wake of an expose by an Indian national, who had gone on a television show in India to share his experience of being abused by his former employer while working at a restaurant here.

The worker said his wages had been withheld and he was assaulted by one of his employers. He said he saw his colleague doused with petrol and suffer burns for threatening to expose the sexual abuse meted out on the restaurant’s workers by the same boss.

Fakhrudin said a check on the restaurant was made on Thursday by police, the labour department and the anti-human trafficking council.

“We interviewed six Malaysian workers and one Indian national. The Indian national confirmed that he was beaten up and saw his colleague being burned in the leg by their employer at the restaurant,” he said.

Fakhrudin said police also received a report from a Malaysian woman on Friday after the video clip of the interview had circulated online.

“Based on the report and further investigations, we managed to rescue two Indian nationals aged between 22 and 34, one employee and another former employee at the restaurant,” he said.

A 33-year-old man, a former supervisor at the restaurant, has been remanded in custody until Thursday. The suspect had a history of six previous cases related to crime and drugs, Fakhrudin said.