Doctor couple has a history of abusing helps

Investigations have revealed that a former domestic help at the house, who was hired through the same placement agency in Punjabi Bagh — run by Mukesh Kumar — had quit the job because the couple tortured her. Karn Pratap Singh reports.

The 13-year-old domestic help who was rescued from a doctor couple's flat in Dwarka was not the only one who was harassed by her employers. Investigations have revealed that a former domestic help at the house, who was hired through the same placement agency in Punjabi Bagh — run by Mukesh Kumar — had quit the job because the couple tortured her. The police are now trying to trace the former domestic help to record her statement that will help the police establish their case against the couple.

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Ironically, the former help had shared her experience with the 13-year-old victim when they met at Kumar's placement agency in September-October, 2011. But, at that time the victim did not know that she would be working for the same couple, who had ill-treated her colleague, said a police officer quoting the victim's statement recorded before a magistrate at the child welfare committee (CWC) on Friday.

"The couple would not allow her to talk to her parents and Sanjay used to threaten her to fix her in a false case of theft of Rs 10,000 whenever she told them that she wanted to go back to her parents in Jharkhand's Gumla district," the officer said.

The police suspect an organised human trafficking syndicate at work, as a senior police officer confirmed that one Mahadev had allegedly sold the victim to Kumar.

"The girl told us that her 'uncle' Narayan Sahu had handed her over to Mahadev back at her native Veer Keda village. Though she was sent out of town with her parents' consent, they were never told that she was living in Delhi. A team will be sent to her native village to nab Mahadev and Sahu. Their interrogation would help us bust the entire racket. A team is already looking for Kumar, the placement agency owner," the officer added.

She also told the police that besides managing the house she was forced to clean the couple’s clinic as well. She was never allowed to talk to outsiders or step out of the house. Usually, she was made to starve during the day and was given food in the evening only.

A team led by Inspector Yogesh Kumar, under SHO Suman Pushkarna, is investigating the case under the supervision of DCP AK Ojha.