Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): At the age of eight, Kajal found herself in a house at a remote place, washing utensils and sweeping the floor. She along with her one-year-old sister Deepawali were abducted from a temple near Peergate and were to be sold to a doctor, based in Delhi for Rs 3 lakh. Both the sisters and three other minor girls were rescued by the crime branch on Monday and handed them over to their parents. According to the police, the minor girls had gone missing a few months ago.
Based on a complaint by the parents, the police filed a case and it was revealed that gangs from Delhi and Haryana are involved in it. The crime branch team is set to leave for the states to bust the inter-state gangs involved in the selling of the children, said one of the officials. “We are working on the case from all angles. We are interacting with the girl’s parents to get some more details,” he said.
When the cops questioned Kajal to extract some details about the kidnappers, she said they assaulted them while they were in their custody. Already shaken, she said they often beat her with a stick if she refused to do domestic chores. “We have noticed the injury marks on her hand,” said one of the officials.
Zone-3 DCP Riyaz Iqbal said the key accused is Archana Sen, who hails from Punjab. She had moved to Faridabad after marriage. Following a tiff with her husband, she opted for divorce some years ago and became an event manager. She stumbled across Nishant on a matrimonial website and began residing with him in a live-in relationship. DCP Iqbal added the information about the accused is also being propagated to other states’ police to ascertain other crimes, if any, have been committed by them there.
Senior officials of the Bhopal crime branch told Free Press that they got the evidence from WhatsApp chats that the accused had regular links with the doctor. The police suspect Archana’s son Suraj, Suraj’s girlfriends Muskan and Suraj’s minor sister were also involved in the racket.
Interrogation continues
Deputy Commissioner of police (Crime), Shrutkirti Somwanshi told Free Press that no other movement of other such gangs has been recorded in any other part of the state till now. He added interrogation is on, and apart from five children, no other children have been found to be in their clutches till now.
.png)
