BHAWANIPATNA: Dharamgarh police has rescued a missing minor girl who eloped with a woman in her late twenties after both developed a relationship on social media.
The elder woman is alleged by police to have trapped her into the relationship with the intention of selling her off into prostitution. The 17-year-old girl was traced and rescued from a train on way to Jaipur in Rajasthan.
The girl of Dharamgarh and the accused woman of West Bengal’s Nadia district were traced at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. They were brought to Dharamgarh on September 27.Dharamgarh IIC Chandra Sekhar Sabar said the girl’s parents lodged a complaint on September 17 alleging that their daughter was kidnapped by an unknown person. A case was registered and with the help of cyber cell, police traced the victim’s mobile phone to West Bengal.
A police team was sent to the neighbouring State but it was found that the girl’s location had changed to Kanpur. “We sought help of Railway Protection Force (RPF) which tracked the duo in a train to Jaipur in Rajasthan,” said the IIC.
During investigation, it was found that the girl had come in contact with the accused, identified as Sangeeta Malakar on Tik Tok and developed friendship. Over time, their friendship turned into attraction. The accused woman lured the girl to elope with her.
Sangeeta first took the minor to West Bengal and was allegedly planning to sell her off into prostitution or trafficking when the duo was traced by the RPF personnel, Sabar added.While the girl has been handed over to her parents, Sangeeta was arrested and produced in court. She has been remanded to judicial custody.