Debt-ridden families tied to ‘contracts’, minors trafficked to cities: 10 girls rescued after ‘discreet’ probe

“Minor girls were taken to Mumbai, Nagpur and other metropolitan cities for bar dancing and prostitution. The gang allegedly manipulated Aadhaar and other identity documents to portray the girls as adults, and forged identities and addresses to make tracing them difficult,” he said.

Additional SP Bhag Chandra alleged that young girls were tied to contracts by their families, with brokers taking them away once they reached puberty.

“The network operated at three levels. The first involved local agents identifying vulnerable girls from poor and debt-ridden families. The second comprised brokers who approached families, offered false promises of jobs and financial security, obtained thumb impressions and signatures on stamp papers, and allegedly sold the girls to traffickers in metropolitan cities for large sums. The third level consisted of major agents and dance bar operators who allegedly pushed the girls into prostitution,” he said.

A major breakthrough came on June 2, when a Navi Mumbai Police team arrived in Rajasthan to hand over rescued girls to their families. Though their documents showed them as adults, police verification allegedly found them to be minors.

Of the 10 rescued, seven are believed to be minors while one was legally an adult. The ages of the remaining two are still being verified.

“The financial arrangements uncovered during the investigation were particularly disturbing. If a girl tried to escape, her family was allegedly pressured to repay several times the money initially paid,’ an officer involved in the probe said.

Of the five arrested, Ramkanya, 53, Bhimshankar alias Bhima, 28, Ankush Karmawat, 26, Ramesh Kanjar, 55, and Sunny, 40, are from Jhalawar district. Two more accused are absconding.