It was a journey to hell for this Ahmedabad resident, who got caught in a prostitution racket and sent to Riyadh on the pretext of a job; she was rescued 15 days after Sushma Swaraj's intervention
Mumbai agent Farooq Ansari and Ahmedabad agent Rihan Banu
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It took Sushma Swaraj's usual timely intervention and tireless efforts over 15 days by the Ahmedabad Women's Cell (crime branch) officers to rescue a woman forced into an inter-country prostitution racket in Riyadh, after she was lured there on the promise of a job. The crime branch has arrested the agents from Mumbai and Ahmedabad running the racket and is investigating further.
Assistant commissioner of police, Ahmedabad Women's Cell, M Tanna said that 15 days ago, the family of the 37-year-old victim, who had gone to Riyadh on the lure of a job, received a call from her after three months, where she narrated her ordeal to them.
Shocked, the family had gone to the police, who managed to reach out to the external affairs minister for her help. She had then got the embassy there involved, after which the police managed to bring the victim back and reunite her with her family three days ago.
The job trap
The woman had been contacted by one Rihan Banu (50), who had offered her the job of a helper in a beauty salon in Riyadh. Banu allegedly sent her to Mumbai to Dongri resident Farooq Ansari (48), who did all the paperwork and sent her to Saudi Arabia on January 16.
“After I landed in Riyadh, my escorts took me to a place called Alga. There, I was put up in a flat. Expecting to start my job, I got dressed the next day, only to find out that I had been sold to an Arab and I had to go with him. A woman named Rupaiya gave me instructions, but I refused to go anywhere,” said the victim, now admitted in a civil hospital in Ahmedabad.
With the two women facing a language problem, Rupaiya even asked her driver from Bangladesh to explain everything to the woman in Hindi. The driver then told the victim that if she wanted to return to India, she would have to do as his employer said, but the victim refused to budge.
They then locked her up in a room without food and water, but she managed to escape after two days. Running on the street, she requested a passer-by to lend her her mobile phone to make a call to her family in Ahmedabad. Shortly after the call, however, her captors caught up with her and took her back. They beat her up and injected a drug in her legs to make her weak and stop her from running away again and give in to their demands.
Family takes action
In the meanwhile, her family informed the police who immediately traced and arrested Banu. Her interrogation led them to Farooq, who used to supply the women. With the help of the Mumbai crime branch, the police arrested him; his brother Maqsood, also a part of the racket, managed to get away. Farooq told the police that they have together sent about 100 women from Ahmedabad to Gulf countries over the past year.
The police then got in touch with a Telangana politician who had earlier helped a woman return to India from the Gulf. The politician contacted Swaraj. The police asked Farooq to contact Rupaiya in Riyadh, who, not knowing he had been arrested, agreed to send the victim back if they sent her another woman. Farooq assured her that his brother Maqsood would send her another woman at the earliest. With the victim refusing to give in and giving all of them a tough time there, Rupaiya allowed her to go on Farooq's promise.
The police reunited the victim with her family three days ago. “We have arrested the agents and will present them before court soon,” said Tanna.
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