8 held for trafficking over 5,000 girls from across country | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

8 held for trafficking over 5,000 girls from across country

ByAdvitya Bahl
Aug 31, 2016 07:11 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The crime branch has arrested a couple and six of their associates for allegedly running an “organised trafficking syndicate ”.

HT Image
HT Image

The gang, police said, was suspected to have trafficked more than 5,000 girls from Nepal, Odisha, Karnataka, Assam and Andhra Pradesh, making at least Rs 100 crore from the business.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

They have been booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Around five luxury cars have been recovered from their possession.

The couple, Saira Begum and Afaq Hussian, reportedly bought girls for Rs 50,000 from several towns, promising them employment and then allegedly pushed them into prostitution by selling them to clients for Rs 2 lakh each.

The couple, police said, had been into the business for the past 15 years and controlled almost 80 per cent kothas on GB Road through their network of agents.

The victims were confined in hidden cells at the kothas, locked up in almirahs, thrashed, intoxicated and starved for days before they were forced to entertain clients without protection.

Joint commissioner of police, crime branch, Ravindra Yadav, said the department took up a study to identify the main perpetrators and beneficiaries of this illegal trade, when they zeroed in on the couple. The team then conducted raids on August 25 and made arrests.

Begum, police said, controlled the business closely through their handpicked kotha managers called nayikas and assistants. The couple had earlier been arrested by the crime branch in two cases of trafficking of minor girls reported in 2013. But the arrest did not deter then from running the business.

“To avoid legal action the couple had transferred the ownership title of their kotha premises to their associates and their management in the name of managers and naiyaks, but controlled the entire business. Afaq used to pay them 15% of the earnings for their roles. This way, they did not come to the notice of the investigating agencies but kept trafficking girls and making money,” Yadav said

Hussain’s driver Ramesh Pandey and manger Vasudev along with four others -Samshad, Shilpi, Mumtaz and Puja Thapa -- have been arrested.

Begam, police said, came to Delhi from Hyderabad in search of work, after her father’s death, but was forced into prostitution by an agent. Kotha number 58 became her home, where she was forced to entertain clients. In 1990, she was arrested after she was found seducing a client in public in Kamla market. After this she learnt the tricks of the trade and built a network of her own. Now, she started employing girls at the kotha, where she once herself worked as a sex worker.

Unveiling 'Elections 2024: The Big Picture', a fresh segment in HT's talk show 'The Interview with Kumkum Chadha', where leaders across the political spectrum discuss the upcoming general elections. Watch now!
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On