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AHMEDABAD: Investigation into the human trafficking racket in the state, involving the abduction and sale of minor girls, has revealed that one of them was sold off as a bride to 15 men in the age range of 30-45 over the past eight years.
The gang allegedly sold the girls for between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh each. The number of victims could be more than eight as was earlier reported.
According to police, one of the girls aged 13, Nisha (name changed), was sold off as a bride to 15 men in Gujarat in eight years. Using Nisha, the alleged mastermind of the racket, Ashok Patel, and his aides in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, abducted nearly 15 other girls from places where she lived and sold them off.
The cops are now searching for Nisha, who is “one of the first victims” of the gang, to record her statement against the accused. The racket was busted when investigators tracked down a teenager who had gone missing from Kanbha village of Ahmedabad district on May 11.
‘Teen was raped, tortured, forced to marry two men every year’
The racket was busted when investigators tracked down a teenager who had gone missing from Kanbha village of Ahmedabad district on May 11.
When she was rescued from Boru village near Gandhinagar on May 13, police got the names of the racket’s alleged mastermind Ashok Patel, his wife Renuka, 45, their 16-year-old son, and a woman named Rupal Mekwan, 34, all residents of the Odhav area of the city.
Police also caught their accomplices – Moti Senma, 50, of Mansa, and Amratji Thakor, 70, and Chehar Singh Solanki, 34, of Palanpur.
With shocking new details emerging from the investigation, the scale of the human trafficking operations in the state seems to be much bigger and beyond the scope of Ahmedabad rural police. Seven of the minor girls allegedly trafficked by the gang are yet to be traced, though the cops believe this number may be much higher. An officer of Kanbha police said, “Ashok Patel had abducted Nisha from Ahmedabad, and raped and tortured her until she gave in and agreed to do as told. He and the other gang members then presented her as a bride. She had been forced into marrying at least two men, aged between 30 and 45, each year since 2015. Ashok and his aides used to abduct other girls using Nisha, who had no choice but to comply with them.”
The cops said that they are also in search of a girl from Mumbai who was allegedly sold by Ashok.
“Ashok was in touch with human traffickers from Maharashtra and Rajasthan and an investigation in this regard is also going on,” said a police source.
The gang allegedly sold the girls for between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh each. The number of victims could be more than eight as was earlier reported.
According to police, one of the girls aged 13, Nisha (name changed), was sold off as a bride to 15 men in Gujarat in eight years. Using Nisha, the alleged mastermind of the racket, Ashok Patel, and his aides in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, abducted nearly 15 other girls from places where she lived and sold them off.
The cops are now searching for Nisha, who is “one of the first victims” of the gang, to record her statement against the accused. The racket was busted when investigators tracked down a teenager who had gone missing from Kanbha village of Ahmedabad district on May 11.
‘Teen was raped, tortured, forced to marry two men every year’
The racket was busted when investigators tracked down a teenager who had gone missing from Kanbha village of Ahmedabad district on May 11.
When she was rescued from Boru village near Gandhinagar on May 13, police got the names of the racket’s alleged mastermind Ashok Patel, his wife Renuka, 45, their 16-year-old son, and a woman named Rupal Mekwan, 34, all residents of the Odhav area of the city.
Police also caught their accomplices – Moti Senma, 50, of Mansa, and Amratji Thakor, 70, and Chehar Singh Solanki, 34, of Palanpur.
With shocking new details emerging from the investigation, the scale of the human trafficking operations in the state seems to be much bigger and beyond the scope of Ahmedabad rural police. Seven of the minor girls allegedly trafficked by the gang are yet to be traced, though the cops believe this number may be much higher. An officer of Kanbha police said, “Ashok Patel had abducted Nisha from Ahmedabad, and raped and tortured her until she gave in and agreed to do as told. He and the other gang members then presented her as a bride. She had been forced into marrying at least two men, aged between 30 and 45, each year since 2015. Ashok and his aides used to abduct other girls using Nisha, who had no choice but to comply with them.”
The cops said that they are also in search of a girl from Mumbai who was allegedly sold by Ashok.
“Ashok was in touch with human traffickers from Maharashtra and Rajasthan and an investigation in this regard is also going on,” said a police source.
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