PUDUCHERRY : The Puducherry police on Friday arrested an Indian travel agent for allegedly selling a 27-year-old woman to a gang in Cambodia in July for $3,500 by promising her a job in the Southeast Asian country. As per the complaint filed by the woman to Puducherry DGP Manoj Kumar Lal on Monday, the Cambodian gang had threatened to push her into prostitution if she insisted on returning to India without paying back their money. The victim had escaped from the gang with the help of her friend. Two Cambodian nationals have also been booked in the case.
According to the Puducherry Crime Investigation Department wing, the woman had contacted B Murugan (48) of Mudaliarpet for a telecaller job in Cambodia after seeing an advertisement. “Murugan asked her to pay `4 lakh for the job, and after negotiation, she paid him `3.25 lakh. She was then sent to Cambodia on July 15 where she was forced to make scam calls,” said a police official.
As she didn’t like the job, the victim asked the company to allow her to return to Puducherry. The manager and a staff of the company, however, told her that they had purchased her for $3,500, and they would sell her to a flesh trade gang to get back the money.
‘Managed to escape with help of friend’
“They also tortured her and threatened to murder her. She managed to escape from them with the help of an Indian friend and reached Puducherry on September 7,” the police officer said. On Thursday, the police filed a case under seven sections of the IPC -- 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 370 (1) and (2) (Buying or disposing of any person as a slave), 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) 506 (2) (Punishment for criminal intimidation) -- against Murugan and three others, including two from Cambodia.
While Murugan confessed to the crime during an inquiry, a search is on to arrest his associate Rajkumar from Chennai, added the official. The police are also inquiring whether the two men had similarly cheated more people