Teen nightclub rescue

Chinsurah, March 17: A 19-year-old homemaker from Hooghly who had been “sold” to a nightclub in Bangalore was rescued by police posing as “customers” after a sympathetic “client” passed on the girl’s cellphone number to her husband. The phone allowed only incoming calls. Sarala (name changed) was brought back to Uttarpara today, 12 days after traffickers had taken her to Bangalore on the promise of a job as a domestic help. “In February, a woman from my locality approached me with the job offer. Anjana Dutta promised me a monthly salary of Rs 15,000,” Sarala told the police. “I spoke to my husband about the offer and he too thought I should accept it. Then Anjana introduced me to one Sujit Ghosh from Howrah’s Bally,” she added. On March 5, Sarala left for Bangalore by train with Anjana. “After reaching Bangalore, Anjana locked me up in a house. The same evening, she handed me over to some people at a nearby hotel. Anjana told me I had been sold to those people and I would have to dance in the hotel’s nightclub. She told me I would have to meet customers and spend nights with them,” Sarala said. “I thought the only way of escaping from that unknown city was to request my clients to pass on my phone number to my husband. I was lucky that on March 6, only a day after I came to Bangalore, a sympathetic client agreed to give my number to my husband,” Sarala said. When her husband Raju (name changed), a rickshaw-puller, called her up, Sarala told him that she had been confined in Ashok Night City in Bangalore’s Koramangala. The next day, Raju lodged an FIR with Uttarpara police. Based on information given by the girl, the police arrested Sujit. They said Sujit was part of a trafficking gang. On March 11, a police team led by sub-inspector Mahesh Singh left for Bangalore, armed with a photograph of Sarala. On the night of March 14, Singh and the other officers went to the hotel posing as “customers”. The police team was given a “catalogue of new girls”. Singh spotted Sarala’s photograph on the catalogue. The police offered the hotel extra money and requested that they be allowed to take Sarala to another hotel. The hotel agreed but asked Anjana to accompany Sarala. Immediately after coming out of the hotel, the police arrested Anjana. The police brought Sarala and Anjana back to Uttarpara today. While Sarala was taken to a shelter home, Anjana was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody. Sarala will be sent back to her home after a medical test tomorrow.

Source 

Posted in: Rescue