Tinsukia: In a sensational case, Tinsukia police with help of Digboi police busted an alleged sex racket running at a hotel in Digboi and arrested 7 persons and rescued seven young girls – all aged between 14 to 24 – hailing from various towns in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh district.
The rescue of four minor girl students aged 14, 15, 16 and 17 has pointed authorities towards a human trafficking angle.
Upon receiving a missing complaint on July 12 by a 15-year-old girl’s father, who is a meat seller in Tinsukia, the police swung into action, deployed sources and somehow made contact with the girl, who guided Tinsukia police to a lodge in Digboi.
“During a joint raid with the help of Tinsukia police, we took into custody five customers, a hotel employee and recovered seven young girls, including four minors, from various rooms of the hotel,” officer-in-charge of Tinsukia police station Parag Buragohain told EastMojo.
The owner of the Digboi tourist lodge, Pankaj Barua, was arrested on Wednesday night during a follow-up operation by Digboi police.
Buragohain said, prima facie it seems that the 15-year-old girl was taken to the lodge by one of her female friend hailing from Tinsukia town on the pretext of staying overnight night at her room in Digboi before returning back next morning, pointing towards a human trafficking angle, wherein those girls, already into such crimes, coax their known ones till the time they enter into prostitution.
“This angle needs a thorough investigation and all victims need to be identified and put under counselling,” he added.
“In her statement, the minor student has told the police that she had no idea about the sex racket and she did not get into any physical relationship. The police has recorded her statement under section 164 before a magistrate and handed over to her father on Thursday,” Buragohain said.
The arrested persons include hotel employee Somanth Upadhyay (27), Vijay Shankar Agarwal (44), Jalaluddin Talukdar (40), Adib Ansari (24), and Hari Shah (20) and Amsar Ali while hotel manager Hari Sharma is still at large.
Buragohain said another 14-year-old girl rescued from the lodge has revealed to the police that after her parents’ death, she was adopted by a couple, who pushed her into prostitution by charging Rs 5000 per night.
He said, during the investigation, it has been learnt that the girls used to charge between Rs 5000 to Rs 7000 for one night.
Appealing to parents, Buragohain said parents must keep a watch on their children’s activities and remain vigilant of their shopping modes and financial expenses and provide them counselling if needed. They can approach the police for any help.
“The hotel played a significant role in arranging girls for their customers. At times they would provide the number of a few girls to the customer, who would then bring the girls to the hotel after making a deal. The hotel would provide them a room for sex if needed. At times, the hotel would arrange the girls,” officer-in-charge of Digboi police station Rajiv Bordoloi said, adding, “Few girls have come to this lodge on earlier occasions as well.”
In the present case, Agarwal and Talukdar picked three girls from Tinsukia, he said. Their plan was to enjoy the night at the lodge with minor girls and then proceed to Tinsukia the next morning for business purchases before returning back.
While Agarwal runs a mobile shop, Talukdar has a hardware shop at Khonsa in Arunachal Pradesh.
According to allegations, the hotel owner and his staff have been running the prostitution racket from their lodge for a long time now.
“Barua made good money from this illegal business and opened an elegant tourist lodge alongside National Highway 38,” a source said.
The source added that the hotel flaunted rules regarding the entry of guests and provided rooms without taking proper identity details and maintaining records in order to promote prostitution and spoil lives of young girls.
Police have registered a case at Digboi police station and more arrests are likely to be made soon.
Attempts to speak to the superintendent of Tinsukia police, Debojit Deori, turned futile.
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