In a shocking revelation, MiD DAY has uncovered that a police constable is involved in child trafficking at the city railway station.
In a shocking revelation, MiD DAY has uncovered that a police constable is involved in child trafficking at the city railway station. One of the men caught on camera selling children is constable Papanna, MiD DAY found yesterday.
A sting conducted by this newspaper exposed touts selling children to hoteliers for hard labour, and a man negotiating on behalf of the touts, it turns out, was someone who is paid to protect the vulnerable.
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Papanna was an active negotiator on behalf of Ravi, the main tout locating runaway and vulnerable children arriving at the bus stand and selling them to hoteliers.
Four for Rs 3,000
MiD DAY reporters posed as hoteliers and bought four boys for Rs 3,000 last week. Papanna actively participated in the business of selling the children to us.
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Apart from helping tout Ravi in the negotiations, he convinced the children to go along with us. "If your work is pucca, you will get a pucca salary," Papanna told the children as we shot him on a secret video camera. "You need not worry about anything because the people buying you are very good. "
However, he had never seen us earlier. He urged us to close the deal quickly, and said it was not safe to hang around at the railway station car park.
Our hidden video camera recorded him pushing the deal through, while MiD DAY photographer Satish Badiger snapped him from an adjacent building.
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We could not make out Papanna's identity or whereabouts on the day of the sting, but later came to know that he was a driver working for railway superintendent of police Revanna.
When we called Papanna anonymously, he said, "I work as a driver to the railway SP. I enjoy the proximity of a big officer."
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Digging up his antecedents, MiD DAY found that he had worked for over 10 years in the police department. We asked him about touts Ravi and Nagesh. "Maybe I know them, but that doesn't mean that I am their friend," he said.
His boss Revanna, away at Bijapur, said over the phone that he was shocked to hear about Papanna being involved in child trafficking.
"I took him on as a driver temporarily 10 days ago as my permanent driver is on leave," Revanna said.
Seniors clueless
Sub-inspector Rama-krishna, a motor transport officer with the railway police, who deputed Papanna as a temporary driver, said, "He is always talking over the mobile phone."
While he was clueless about Papanna's involvement in the child trafficking racket, attendants at the car park said they had seen Papanna hanging out with the touts.
Revanna said he would not hesitate to take stringent action against Papanna.
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