Rajasthan’s Jhalawar Police on Friday busted an interstate racket allegedly involved in trafficking minor girls, the police said. According to police, six gang members along with one suspect fell into their dragnet, while they rescued 10 minor girls during the operation.

Jhalawar Superintendent of Police (SP) Amit Kumar said the gang targeted poor families, especially those belonging to the Kanjar community, and purchased young girls from them.

He said, “The children were kept under the gang’s control until they turned 11, and they were sold for prostitution in cities like Mumbai thereafter, in lieu of lakhs of rupees.”

Girls were sold for prostitution in these cities

SP Kumar shed further light on the case details, saying, “Most of the rescued girls are between four and five years old. The girls were allegedly trafficked for prostitution in Mumbai and in several other districts of Rajasthan, such as Jhalawar, Tonk and Bundi, along with Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior.

The SP added that the gang targeted poor and debt-ridden families by allegedly luring them with promises of jobs for their daughters and providing financial aid to them.

Gangs executed agreements with families

A police probe revealed that the gang members allegedly executed written agreements with the families, which mentioned that loans would be waived under certain conditions and that the family members would have to repay double or even triple the amount if their daughter escaped from the gang’s clutches. Police said brokers pocketed most of the money earned from trafficking, while only a small fraction of it was made accessible to the families.

Moreover, another harrowing revelation emerged during the probe, as it came to light that the gang used forged Aadhaar cards to pass off the minor girls as adults.

SP Kumar said the rescued girls hail from Jhalawar, Tonk and Bundi districts of Rajasthan respectively.

Tip-off leads to arrests

The police said they received a tip-off about the trafficking racket, following which they constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and three additional teams to crack down on the rackets, as well as rescue the victim girls. According to police, the kingpin of the gang has been identified as Rankanya Bai, a native of Bundi, who was allegedly in touch with brokers involved in the trafficking network.

The police laid hands on her, as well as other accused identified as Bhim Shankar Kanjar (22), Ankush Kanjar (26), Ramesh Kanjar (55), all from Bundi district too, and Sanni Kanjar (40), a resident of Jhalawar.

An additional suspect, as per police, has been nabbed from Bundi.

3 absconding, manhunt on

Meanwhile, three other gang members, identified as Mohammed Hanif (40), Anwar Sheikh (40) and Rajesh Dable (37) are on the run and the police have begun hunting for them. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and other relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) have been invoked against the arrested accused, and they have been remanded to five days of police custody.