Police bust trafficking racket, 3 arrested

The Delhi police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a human trafficking racket with the arrest of three persons and rescued two girls, including a minor. The gang allegedly supplied teenage girls to “prospective grooms” in towns and villages in UP with “adverse sex ratio”. The three arrested persons have been identified as Arvind, 26, who is believed to be the kingpin of the racket, and two of his cli-ents — Narender (30) and Sandeep (22). All three of them are natives of UP’s Muzaffarnagar district, said joint commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Yadav.

“The gang is involved in trafficking of poor girls belonging to Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar from Delhi railway stations to UP and other states. Two girls, including a minor, have been rescued and seven more have been identified,” said Mr Yadav.

“The gang has allegedly kidnapped around 12 girls belonging to Jharkhand and West Bengal from railway stations in Delhi since April this year and ‘sold’ them to clients who forced the girls to marry them in the areas of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Baghpat in UP for anything between '40,000 and '60,000,” he said.

“The prospective grooms were those who could not get a bride in their community due to adverse sex ratio,” Mr Yadav said.

On November 21, the Delhi police was informed that a 19-year-old girl, who belongs to Gumla in Jharkhand, had gone missing from the Old Delhi Railway Station. Investig-ations in the case led the police to Sandeep, who disclosed that his cousin Arvind allegedly arranged teenage girls for marriage.

The rescued girl told the police that her cousin was also abducted by Arvind and his wife Manju and was forcefully married. Further investigation led to the rescue of a 14-year-old girl, allegedly trafficked from a village in West Bengal, from the sa-me village in Muzaf-farnagar district, which led to the arrest of Narender.

“Efforts are on to rescue the other girls and to arrest Manju and other associates,” the JCP added.