BENGALURU : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday conducted searches at two locations in the city, on the premises of one Rafik Ali, who is allegedly involved in making fake ID proof documents for Bangladeshi traffickers and trafficked victims.
During the searches, the agency seized “various incriminating documents, six digital devices including hard disks and mobile phones used for making the forged documents,” the NIA stated. A 22-year-old Bangladeshi woman was gangraped in Ramamurthy Nagar police station limits in May this year by her compatriots. The city police had registered a suo motu case after a video of the assault went viral.
The police had arrested and charge-sheeted 12 accused in the case, of whom 11 are from Bangladesh. The rape survivor, narrating her travails to the police, had reportedly revealed that she was trafficked at the age of 16 to Dubai and had come to India early this year.
The investigation into the case has unravelled an organised international human trafficking network in which many Indians are also involved. “They provide the illegal immigrants with fake domicile documents that pass them off as natives of West Bengal,” said an informed source.
Women were trafficked from Bangladesh by accused persons on the pretext of providing jobs in India, but were forced into flesh trade, the NIA stated. The case was originally registered as FIR - 0185/2021 dated June 8 at the Ramamurthy Nagar police station against 13 accused relating to a raid conducted by Bengaluru police at a rented house where seven Bangladeshi women and one child were rescued from the custody of human traffickers.
The NIA on July 13 had re-registered the case as RC-16/2021/NIA/DLI under Sections 370, 343 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for human trafficking and wrongful confinement, 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.