JAIPUR: In a major joint operation, Jhalawar District Police, in coordination with Bundi, Tonk, and Mumbai Police, have busted an interstate human trafficking and sex racket, rescuing 10 girls, including seven minors.
Police said the gang was involved in trafficking minor girls from economically weaker families, luring them with false promises of employment and a better life before selling them to brokers in Mumbai for lakhs of rupees and forcing them into the sex trade.
Five members of the organised syndicate, including a female ringleader, have been arrested, while one more suspect has been detained. The victims were traced to multiple districts, including Jhalawar, Tonk, and Bundi.
Officials said three other accused, believed to be hiding in Mumbai, have been identified and raids are underway to apprehend them.
Jhalawar SP Amit Kumar said that after receiving inputs about human trafficking, police conducted inquiries in local settlements and found that brokers operating in Jhalawar and Tonk were targeting vulnerable families.
He said the accused lured families by promising employment opportunities in Mumbai, but instead trafficked the minor girls to brokers operating in Mumbai’s dance bars. The syndicate also allegedly forged identity documents to show the victims as adults before trafficking them across state borders.
According to the SP, the girls were subsequently pushed into forced sexual exploitation in Mumbai.
He further revealed a disturbing modus operandi in which, before taking the girls, the accused made parents sign stamp papers and affix thumb impressions after receiving money.
During the investigation, the police recovered several agreements executed on Rs 500 stamp paper from the gang. These documents stipulated that in exchange for loans amounting to lakhs of rupees given to their families, the girls would be held as collateral for periods ranging from one to eight years; the agreements ostensibly arranged for the girls to work in Mumbai and other cities.
Photographs of these stamp paper documents, containing chilling terms of the deal, were found on the mobile phones of the accused. According to these terms, if a girl fled from the bar or the broker's house, her family would be required to repay the entire amount spent on her. If the daughter died or committed suicide, the entire debt would be waived; however, the family would be barred from taking any legal action. Conversely, if the girl escaped, the family would be liable to repay several times the amount originally received.
These illegal and inhumane documents bear the signatures and thumbprints of the girls' destitute family members, which the police consider concrete evidence.
The investigation also revealed that these impoverished girls were taken to Mumbai and groomed to project a "high-profile" image. Their lifestyle and attire were modernised, they were given tattoos, and they were trained in conversational etiquette. There is also a strong possibility, currently under investigation, that they were administered hormonal injections to make them appear physically more mature than their actual age.
To apprehend the gang, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed under the leadership of Additional SP Bhagchand of the Women's Crime Investigation Cell, and their social media accounts were traced. The accused include Sunny (Jhalawar), Ramesh, his wife Ramkanya, Bhimshankar, Ankush, and a minor (all from Dablana, Bundi). Hanif, Anwar, and Rajesh from Mumbai remain at large. The accused were arrested and produced in court, from where they have been remanded to custody for 10 days.