23 September,2016 12:00 PM IST | | Faisal Tandel
The Anti-Human Trafficking Cell of Thane Crime Branch rescued a Bengal girl forced into prostitution. Four arrested, including pimp, who brought her to Ulhasnagar on pretext of getting her a better job
The four arrested accused in police custody
The Anti-Human Trafficking Cell (AHTC) of the Thane Crime Branch recently rescued a Bengal girl forced into prostitution in Maharashtra. While the victim has claimed to be 20 years old, officers suspect she is a minor and will do an ossification test on her to ascertain her exact age.
The Cell has arrested four people, including the pimp from Bengal who brought her to Ulhasnagar on the pretext of giving her a job in a well-known firm. The pimp sold her for Rs 10,000 to a couple in Ulhasnagar, where she was kept for three months. The couple later sold her to a woman in Yavatmal district.
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The arrested accused are Farid Gazi (23), the pimp from Bengal, Jaydev alias Ajay Naskar (30) and his wife Najma (23), the couple, and Durga alias Saloni Raut (30) based from Pusad, Yavatmal district.
The trigger
On September 16, based on information from sources, Cell officers raided Siddhivinayak building in Maneregaon, Ulhasnagar 4, and nabbed two women who were Bangladeshis. "Both of them reside in Naskar's house without proper documentation. Ajay too didn't inform the local and Thane police about two foreigners staying at his place. Hence, we picked him up and interrogated him. Accordingly, a case was filed against the three at Vitthalwadi police station under sections of the passport Act, 1950, and foreigners Act, 1971," said Ravindra Daunkar, Senior Inspector, AHTC.
Ajay's sustained interrogation about the two women at his home is what lead to the revelation that he had bought a girl from West Bengal from a pimp.
Chain of events
"During the interrogation, he confessed that three months ago, he had bought a girl from Gazi," said Daunkar. Ajay revealed that he and Najma kept the girl in their house for three months and forced her into prostitution. "He said that they took her all over, depending on the customers' locations, including Nashik and Karnataka. They would charge R3,000 per customer and arrange it in a lodge in whichever city they were. Not a single penny was given to the girl as her daily expenses were taken care of by the couple," added Daunkar.
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Officers then asked him about the whereabouts of the girl, to which he said he'd sold her on September 15 to a woman in Pusad. "According to the information, we raided Raut's residence on September 17, and found the girl in the bedroom. Raut is infamous in Yavatmal and was the target of the local police. Her residence is called White House. After the police had come to know the name, she had got it painted black," said Daunkar.
The seizures
A case has been registered at Vitthalwadi police station under sections 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of The Immoral (Traffic) Prevention Act.
The police have seized cash and mobile phones worth Rs 40,000 as well as a few documents. "All four are in police custody. We are questioning them on the number of girls they pushed into flesh trade," said Parag Manare, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Thane Crime Branch.
