Shillong, Oct 28: Three persons, including a woman, were arrested for human trafficking by Ri Bhoi police.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Ri Bhoi Special Superintendent of Police Vivekanand Singh Rathore said a written FIR was received on June 11 that one girl was missing in the Byrnihat area, and the complainant requested the police to trace the girl. Accordingly, a case was registered vide Nongpoh Women PS Case No. 25(06)2025 u/s 140(2)/3(5)/61(2)/87 BNS r/w Section 5(1)(A) of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act. The case was initially investigated by WO/UBI Jessica A. Sangma and later re-endorsed to UBI Michael R. Marak due to the transfer of the previous Investigation Officer.
During the investigation, it was found that the girl was in Rajasthan and managed to escape from confinement. Immediately on receipt of information, she was rescued with the help of the Rajasthan Police and brought back to Meghalaya. On examination of the rescued girl, it was learnt that a person from Assam befriended the girl on Facebook and lured her into travelling to Delhi & Rajasthan for their marriage. However, the girl was taken to Rajasthan, sold and married to an unknown person instead of Rs. 3 lakh.
After a continued effort to unearth the network, the Investigation Officer identified the person who befriended the girl as one Rajesh Hinge (31), son of Ratan Singha, a resident of Kumarghat, Betchera, PS – Kumarghat, North Tripura. He was arrested on October 19 in Guwahati. Based on their examination, another co-accomplice named Khalil Ali (31), s/o (L) Mohanur Ali, R/o Karabari, PS – Boko, Dist – Kamrup(R), Assam, was arrested on October 21 from Jhalukbari. The investigation continued, and the kingpin of the gang was identified as one Monika Rabha (in picture), daughter of Naresh Kumar, a resident of Kari, Ward No. 9, Nawalgarh, Dist – Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, and she was arrested on October 26 from Kamakhya railway station.
All the arrested accused persons are being interrogated, and it has been learnt that they have sold at least 5 girls from Boko, Assam and 1 girl from Tripura in the last 2 years. The investigation is continuing, and more arrests are likely.
The investigation shows a common modus operandi involved in human trafficking, i.e., the target is identified and befriended on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc., and after chats and calls for some time, they are lured into going to other places like Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, etc., on the pretext of marriage, tourism, etc. and then sold off.
“Therefore, our children need to be more aware and inform their parents if any such incident occurs. They should be very careful and alert, as the same modus operandi may be used to commit other crimes like cyber fraud, UPI fraud, blackmail, etc. They should not install any unknown application or click any suspicious link, else their mobile phones and computers may be compromised”, the special SP said.
Case from Garo Hills
In a related case, a minor was brought back from New Delhi, and the accused, who was staying with her, was arrested.
West Garo Hills SP Abraham Sangma said that on October 28, an FIR was submitted at Selsella Out Post regarding the alleged kidnapping of a minor girl by 22-year-old Atlaf Hussain of Rajabala.
In this regard, a case of kidnapping was registered at Tura Woman PS vide case No. 127/24.
The victim was untraceable for almost a year.
This month, reliable sources informed that the girl was in Delhi along with the accused.
On being confirmed that the girl was in Delhi, the IO contacted the Delhi police, and with their help, along with others, a team from WGH was deputed to Delhi on October 24.
The girl and the accused were located with the help of the Delhi police on October 25.
They were brought to Tura on October 26, and the arrested accused, Atowar Hussain, was produced in court and sent to judicial custody.
