Seven Bangladeshi women and a five-year-old girl has been rescued in India after another girl was rescued from the 'TikTok Hridoy' trafficking cycle last month, reports The Hindu on Monday.
The rescued women had been forced into prostitution, read the report.
Indian police unearthed the recent prostitution racket while investigating the gang rape and torture of the Bangladeshi young woman at the end of last month by the 'TikTok Hridoy' gang.
The arrest of the prime accused, Shobuj, helped the police uncover the prostitution racket. The women were allegedly brought to the country by the gang that Shobuj is part of.
During a raid recently, the police arrested four people and rescued those seven women in the Kanakanagar K Channasandra area. The five-year-old girl is believed to be the daughter of one of the women.
The rescued women told Ramamurthy Nagar police that they and “hundreds of other women” had been brought illegally into India from Bangladesh by traffickers.
“They told us that they were among the hundreds of women who crossed the border illegally from Bangladesh to India a few months ago. They were assisted by one Rafiq Ashraful from Bangladesh who helped them evade the border security personnel. We believe he is part of the gang and operates from Bangladesh,” said a senior police official.
After entering India, the women were taken to Howrah in West Bengal and remained there for a few days, while the traffickers allegedly organised identity proof documents. They were then divided into small groups and sent to different cities.
“The traffickers had promised them good jobs, but once they arrived at a city they were forced into prostitution. In Bengaluru, Shobhu and the others would retain a major share of what the women earned,” said the police official, adding that investigation is ongoing
During the raid on the house, the police recovered 46 sets of documents, including Aadhaar cards, for the women and the girl.
