[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The two child traffickers, residents of Bihar, had called the GB Road police station thinking the number belonged to a brothel owner
In an unusually ironical, albeit fortunate, twist of fate, two child traffickers reportedly called up a station house officer (SHO) of the Delhi police’s GB Road station, on Thursday, with an offer to sell a minor girl into flesh trade. The duo were tracked and arrested by the Delhi police while the minor girl was rescued.
The two men, both residents of Supaul district in Bihar, had believed that the phone number belonged to a brothel owner in GB Road, a central Delhi locality infamous for its prostitution rings and a dark underbelly that thrives on flesh trade.
A Hindustan Times report quoted Deputy Commissioner of Police (central Delhi) MS Randhawa as saying: “the two men fell into a police trap when they called up the station house officer of GB road area in central Delhi, believing the number belonged to an owner of a brothel.”
The men – 24-year-old Amar and 27-year-old Ranjeet Shah, told police the during interrogation that they had got the number from a friend, who claimed he had taken it off the Internet, and had informed them that it belonged to a brothel owner on GB Road.
Randhawa told mediapersons that Sunil Kumar, the SHO of Kamla Market police station under whose jurisdiction the GB Road locality falls, had for the past few days been receiving phone calls from different numbers. The caller, obviously unaware that he had dialed the number of a police station, reportedly told Kumar that there was a “beautiful” minor girl for sale.
“Our officer realised that the callers had mistaken him for a brothel owner. He played along and did not allow them to suspect anything. He struck a deal with the callers to buy the girl. According to the plan, they were to meet outside New Delhi Railway Station,” Randhawa told reporters.
Explaining how the ‘trap’ unfolded and ended in the child traffickers being nabbed, Randhawa said inspector Kumar told the caller that he would send a man to pick up the girl. Thereafter, two police constables, Gulab and Sunder, were sent to deal with the caller posing as buyers. The caller identified himself to the two police constables as Amar.
“Our officers met Amar outside the New Delhi Railway Station. However, he had come without the child. Amar demanded Rs 3.5 lakh for the minor girl. Our team fixed the deal at Rs 2.3 lakh. They agreed and promised to hand over the girl on Wednesday at IFFCO Chowk in Gurgaon,” Randhawa explained.
However, while the police had the nab and rescue operation planned for Gurgaon, Amar and his associate Ranjeet changed the plan at the last minute and asked the two constables to come to the New Delhi Railway Station where they said that the girl would be handed over.
“We again laid a trap outside the railway station. Around 5.30pm, our officers paid Amar an advance of Rs 20,000, after which they brought the minor girl. A police team in plainclothes overpowered the two men and rescued the girl,” said Randhawa.
The interrogation of the alleged child traffickers revealed that the minor girl had been conned by Amar into leaving her house and coming to Delhi. Amar had reportedly met the girl in September in Bihar and told her that he had fallen in love with her. He used to call the girl regularly, telling her that he was based in Delhi, and promised that he’d find her a well-paying job if she decided to move to Delhi.
“In October, the minor girl ran away from her family and came to Delhi. Amar then took her to a house and made physical relations with her. After this, he along with his friend, decided to sell her off and had planned to flee Delhi,” an officer investigating the case told reporters.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]