Delhi couple that trafficked 5,000 girls booked under MCOCA

Afaq Husain and Saria Begum owned property worth Rs 246 crore. They also had six luxury sedans, including an Audi.

The police have booked Afaq Husain and Saria Begum, the couple who allegedly trafficked nearly 5,000 girls, under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

After a six-month-long investigation, the Delhi Police have filed a chargesheet against a Delhi couple which allegedly trafficked nearly 5,000 girls over 17 years. (Representative Photo)

The police filed a chargesheet in a city court against the couple after a six-month investigation. In the 3,895-page chargesheet submitted in a city court, the police have submitted a list of 18 properties, valued at around Rs 246 crore by a government approved valuer. Police said the properties were acquired by the couple, all these years by trafficking hundreds of girls and women into prostitution.

Husain and Begum had been arrested at least seven times in the past.

The case came to light after a 16-year-old girl from Delhi’s red light district, GB Road, was rescued by the West Bengal Police from brothel number 56, which is owned by a couple lodged in Tihar jail.

The rescued girl, who is from Durgapur in West Bengal, was trafficked in 2014 and forced into prostitution. The girl took a mobile phone from a customer and called her father. The police traced the location through the phone call and contacted the local police. The girl was rescued from the brothel.

In their chargesheet, police have mentioned that the couple also owned a guest house in south east Delhi’s Jaitpur area and a school. The couple also had six luxury cars, including an Audi. A few months before their arrest in August last year, they had sold off a property in Bangalore for around Rs 4 crore.

Police said the chargesheet contains the statement of several minor girls who were forced into prostitution by the couple.