The detention of an Indian teenager in Paris has blown the lid off an international human trafficking racket in India in which 25 boys from Punjab and Haryana, aged between 13 and 18 were taken to Paris under the pretext of a Rugby training camp and then deserted there.
Only two of the 25 boys came back to India.
The remaining 22 boys are yet to be traced. Sources in the CentraL Bureau of Investigation (CBI) suspect that parents of some of the boys may have paid ₹25-30 lakh for sneaking them into Paris.
The French police had informed the CBI about the detention and shared details of his questioning. Three trafficking agents — Lalit David Dean, Sanjeev Raj and Varun Choudhary – based in Delhi and Faridabad were identified by the CBI based on the information.
The agency registered an FIR against the three and carried out searches of their premises. Several incriminating documents and laptops which may hold clues to the whereabouts of the boys were found in these searches.
“Questioning of the three accused is on and the laptops are being scrutinised,” said a CBI official.
{{/usCountry}}“Questioning of the three accused is on and the laptops are being scrutinised,” said a CBI official.
{{/usCountry}}Investigations revealed that the 25 boys were shown as students of two schools in Kapurthala, Punjab and were taken to Paris on February 1, 2016.
“French visas for the kids were obtained on the basis of an alleged invitation received from the ‘French Federation’ in Paris. All of them visited Paris ... Thereafter the agents got their return tickets cancelled. But before this two boys sensed something wrong and managed to return,” said a CBI spokesperson.
The Kapurthala schools told CBI sleuths that the kids did not study there.
The agency has traced at least one parent so far. “The father has told us he wanted to send the kid to his relatives in the US. But valid documents could not be obtained. Thereafter he got in touch with one of the agents who promised to send the boy in lieu of ₹27 lakh. But the agents it seems that left the boy in Paris only,” said an investigator.
“We don’t know yet whether other boys finally reached their promised destination,” added the investigator.