Chhattisgarh trafficking: Kingpin nabbed from Delhi, four other kids rescued

RAIPUR: Rescuing a 13-year-old trafficked girl from Jashpur district in Odisha has helped police expose the local network of touts which supplied minors to a agency in Delhi and arrest the kingpin of the trafficking racket. Police suspect that the agent may have trafficked thousands of children from Chhattisgarh, Assam, West Bengal and Odisha.
While a team of police is camping in Delhi for the past one week, four other children hailing from other districts of the state, were also rescued from shelter homes.
Inspector Rajesh Marai from Jashpur is heading the team of 11 police personnel in Delhi and had arrested accused trafficker Sameer Kumar Das from Delhi’s Shababad area.
Sameer Das used to run a placement agency for the past 15-20 years and had hired local touts in Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal who brought minor children on pretext of work and used to push them into forced domestic slavery with less or no payment at all, Rajesh told TOI over the phone.
The trafficking of a 13-year-old girl to Delhi laid bare the trafficking link, Rajesh said adding that few local agents were then caught, based on complaints by the girl’s family.
Meanwhile, when Sameer learnt that the touts were arrested, he immediately released the girl and booked her train tickets from Delhi. Police were tracing all his calls and location which helped in rescuing the girl from Jharsuguda station late in June. After the local network was busted, it wasn’t tough to nab Sameer now.
With the help of Delhi-based NGO Shakti Vahini-specialised in working against human trafficking and Delhi police, Sameer was arrested and sent on transit remand to Jashpur, Rajesh said.
Talking to TOI, Jashpur SP Prashant Singh Thakur confirmed that accused Sameer has arrived and police were recording statement, though he hasn’t made any big revelation till now. He may be involved in trafficking of thousands of children as he has been active since many years, Thakur added.
Thakur added that children were also recovered from shelter homes of Delhi who belong to Balrampur, Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa and Raipur and their details were being verified.