Seven Bangladeshi women rescued from flesh trade, six held

The police action came on information from a Bangladeshi anti-trafficking NGO which relayed it to a Pune-based NGO which sought help of Dombivli police

Dombivli

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The Manpada police on Monday busted a prostitution racket and rescued seven nationals of Bangladeshi origin from Heduthane village in Dombivli and arrested six accused.

The arrested Banlgadeshi nationals were identified as main accused Yunush Shaikh alias Rana, 40, Sahil Shaikh, 26, Firdoush Sardar, 24, Ayubali Shaikh, 35, Biplap Khan, 24. The police also arrested a local villager Yogesh Kalan 31, for providing a house to the accused without procuring any legal documents from them.

Police said that Mukta Das, an officer with a Bangladesh-based NGO had on October 5 alerted Pune-based Freedom Firm NGO about Rana, who lured a woman on the pretext of giving her a job in Heduthane village in India and later confined her in a room, and raped her repeatedly. The Pune NGO’s Shilpa Wankhede sought the assistance of Manpada police on October 6.

Shekhar Bagade, senior police inspector, Manpada police formed a team and raided a house situated at Heduthane village near Viththal temple late at night on October 7. Police found a girl and six other Bangladesh women and rescued them, police said.

During the inquiry with women, they revealed that the main accused Rana lured them on the pretext of giving them a job in India, pushed them into the prostitution racket, and forced them to have sex with people in return for money.

Sunil Tarlame, Assistant police inspector, at Manpada police station, said, “Based on this information, I along with two officers and ten police personnel rushed to an address in Palava City in Dombivli and carried out a search. But, the accused had escaped from there. With the help of the technical intelligence, we traced the location to a forested area in Atarli VIllage in Dombivli and arrested five people in an all night operation.”

A case was lodged by activist Shilpa Wankhede against them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, and the Foreigner’s Act. The police seized 25 Aadhar cards, 10 PAN cards, and four birth certificates from them. All the accused were produced in court and remanded into seven-day police custody.