ADILABAD: A human trafficking racket targeting vulnerable women in tribal areas has been unearthed in Kumurambheem Asifabad district with the arrest of six persons, including a police constable.
The gang is accused of luring single, widowed and financially distressed women under the pretext of marriage and employment and selling them to buyers in other states.
According to the police, the victims, primarily women from impoverished families in tribal areas, were trafficked to Madhya Pradesh and forced into servitude. The gang reportedly took advantage of their social and economic vulnerability to trap them with false promises.
The case came to light after a resident of Vadgondi village in Asifabad mandal, who had been sold to Madhya Pradesh for Rs 1.3 lakh, managed to establish contact with her family. The traffickers allegedly manipulated her Aadhaar records, inserting the buyer’s name as her husband.
When the updated Aadhaar card was mailed to her address in Vadgondi, her family grew suspicious and traced her location and then filed a missing person complaint with the local police last week.
Based on this complaint, Asifabad police traced the woman to Madhya Pradesh and rescued her.
90% of victims are female, says TGCSB director
TGCSB director Shikha Goel told reporters on Thursday that the bureau’s Child Protection Unit (CPU) has been actively monitoring the circulation of such material on various digital platforms.
The TGCSB serves as the nodal agency for handling complaints related to CSEAM, child pornography and rape/gang rape (CPRGR) incidents flagged through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), and also processes intelligence received from the Case Monitoring Tools (CMT) of the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The unit also conducts surveillance on social media platforms, the dark and deep web, she said.
Shikha Goel stated that much of the content seized appears to feature foreign individuals, with the victims estimated to be aged between 6 and 14 years. Around 90% of the material involved female victims.
All the arrested accused have been remanded to judicial custody. Investigations are continuing to identify the victims, trace the origin of the content, establish the roles of the accused and dismantle networks involved in producing, circulating, selling and purchasing such material, she said.