A SCRAP metal firm worker was held captive, beaten and tortured with pliers in an attack orchestrated by one of his own colleagues.

Rooman Khan screamed in agony and begged for mercy as a pair of thugs recruited by Mohsin Cheema roughed him up in a dispute over £50,000.

Cheema was jailed for 40 months at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday for his part in the “falling out between business colleagues that got out of hand”.

The 33-year-old, of Donnington Bridge Road, Oxford, arranged to meet Mr Khan and “a solicitor” at a property in Cutteslowe last July.

Mr Khan thought they would be discussing a fraud investigation into the company they worked for, Eden Private Ltd.

But Cheema and three other men ambushed Mr Khan when he entered the house in David Walter Close.

Prosecutor John Law told the court Cheema and Mansha Khan hit their victim, accused him of owing them money and dragged him into a back room.

The pair had brought the two other men – Liam Francis and Najum Dar – as “extra muscle” to intimidate Mr Khan.

Francis and Dar repeatedly punched him.

In a statement read to the court Mr Khan said: “I was screaming in pain and begging for them to stop.”

Mr Law said: “In the course of the incident Mr Dar took a pair of pliers and applied pressure to the end of Mr Rooman Khan’s finger on his left hand.

“He only stopped when Mr Khan made promises to pay.”

Mr Law said the men then dragged Mr Khan’s friend, Khuram Raja, who had been waiting outside, into the house and made him watch.

They forced Mr Khan to strip down to his underwear and stole £40 as well as a Dell laptop worth £900 and a £5,000 designer Tag Heuer watch.

The incident only ended when the group released the two men to go and get a £20,000 down-payment, but they went straight to the police.

Cheema initially denied the allegations but admitted two counts of false imprisonment on the morning of his trial in January.

Mansha Khan, 46, of Slade Grove, Manchester, admitted two counts of false imprisonment.

Francis, 28, and 48-year-old Dar, both from North London, admitted assault occasioning bodily harm on Mr Khan.

Francis also admitted stealing the laptop and watch, but claimed it was a fake anyway.

Roger Carne, defending Cheema, insisted it was not an organised crime but a falling out between business colleagues that got out of hand.

He said Cheema felt prison “would destroy him” and appealed for as short a sentence as possible.

But Judge Ian Pringle said the men had “degraded and humiliated” their victims and jailed them for a total of 90 months.

Khan was sentenced to 32 months.

Dar and Francis were given eight months each for the assault.

Francis had an extra two months added to his sentence for the theft.