Tribal girl sold 6 times before ending her life
Kinpin couple of human trafficking racket among 8 accused
An 18-year-old tribal girl was sold six times in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh over a period of two months before committing suicide in September last year. The arrest of eight accused, including the alleged interstate human trafficking kingpin couple in MP and UP, on Monday unraveled the shocking and tragic story of the girl who hailed from Chhattisgarh.
Santosh Kushwaha, arrested in Uttar Pradesh, spilled the beans saying that after the girl was sold several times over, he bought her to be the bride of his mentally challenged son Babloo, the police said.
An 18-year-old tribal, a victim of inter-state human trafficking, was sold six times in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh over a period of two months before committing suicide in September last year.
Arrest of eight accused, including the alleged interstate human trafficking kingpin couple, in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on Monday unravelled the shocking and tragic story of the deceased.
While Pancham Singh Rai and his wife were arrested in Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh, Kallu Raikwar, Harendra Singh Bundela, Rajpal Singh Parmar, Deshraj Kushwaha, Munna Kushwaha and Santosh Kushwaha were arrested in Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the human trafficking incident which ended in tragic death of the girl, hailing from Chhattisgarh.
According to the police, a team of Chhattisgarh police landed in Chhatarpur on February 4 to trace out the girl following a complaint lodged by her parents alleging that a couple was threatening to kill her if they did not pay them money.
Later, a joint team of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh police on Monday raided the house of Santosh Kushwaha in Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh and arrested him.
Santosh spilled the beans on the serial human trafficking saga saying that he bought the girl from Munna at a price of `70,000.
Police investigation has revealed that the girl was brought to Chhatarpur in July 2020 by the couple allegedly with the assurance of providing her a job.
She was, however, allegedly sold to Kallu Raikwar, a local in
Chhatapur, for `20,000 in
July last year.
She was subsequently allegedly sold to Harendra, Rajapl, Deshraj, Bundela, Munna and Santosh successively.
Santosh purchased the girl to marry her off to his mentally challenged son Babloo, police said quoting him.
The girl however could not bear it and committed suicide on September 10, 2020, police said. “We are probing if the couple were involved in trafficking of more girls from tribal areas of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh,” Chhatarpur district superintendent of police Sachin Sharma said.