Ballari police have busted a major inter-state organised racket that was luring girls from poor families into prostitution by promising ‘Lakshmi Pooja and rain of money’.
Addressing a press conference at the SP office on Thursday, District Superintendent of Police Dr. Suman D. Pennekar said the racket had been operating through digital media for the last six months. After a long investigation, police have identified 16 accused and arrested 11 of them, who have been sent to judicial custody.The SP said the racket mainly targeted girls from poor families. The accused lured them with money and pushed them into prostitution. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the network has links to Ballari, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, Chikkamagaluru, Mysuru and other places. Police are now trying to find out the depth and spread of the network.
The case came to light due to the sustained efforts of Ballari’s Akka Pade – the women’s police team. The team had kept watch on the network’s activities for the last two months and conducted a special undercover operation for about 45 days before successfully busting it. A case has been registered at APMC Police Station under POCSO Act, Human Trafficking Prevention Act and Information Technology Act.
According to police, the accused followed a very systematic method to select girls. They would ask for age, height and other details of young women and ask them to send photos in a specific manner. The selection was done in three stages.The girls selected after three stages were called for ‘Lakshmi Pooja’ where they were made to believe that money would rain. Videos and pictures showing rain of money were shown to them to lure them. The money given during pooja was said to be shared between the girl, the middleman and the main head of the network.
Eventually, the girls were forced to send nude photos. The accused demanded photos of women with minimum 5.6 feet height and without any marks on body. These nude photos were shared within the network and there was threat to upload them on social media. Photos of minor girls have also been found during investigation, SP said.
To keep their activities secret, the accused used code words while communicating. The prostitution and sexual slavery process was called ‘Media’, the girls who were victims were called ‘Paper’, and the kingpin was called ‘DR’. Police investigation revealed that DR is the key person supplying girls and is said to be a Swamiji from outside district.
According to preliminary information, police have got clue that three young women have been sent from Ballari district to other places. Among the arrested, 10 are from Ballari and one is from Anantapur. Information that another accused is from Pune has also been received and police are verifying it.
The arrested have been identified as Govindamma, Nagaraj, Raju, Erriswamy, Eramma, Mahammad, Vinoothabai, Rabia, Gowsia, Usman and Baburao. The absconding accused are Gangadhar, Anwar, Rahul, Ali Bai and Ashraf. Search is on for them.The operation was carried out by City DySP Govindaraju, APMC CPI Mohammed Rafiq, PSI Valibasha and staff after Akka Pade traced the network,
Explaining the undercover operation, Akka Pade staff Lalithamma, Anita, Shahida and Rukhiya Banu said they got confirmed information that the network was operating in some slum areas of the city. They contacted some women tailors who were part of the network.
Later, wearing old clothes like poor women, they met network members. They gained their trust by saying their families were earlier well-off but had lost property and are now in financial crisis. After crossing three-four stages of the network, they collected information about activities happening inside.Later, along with additional police team, they raided and arrested the accused.
SP Dr Suman D Pennekar said girls should be careful before sharing their photos as they may be misused. He said further investigation is underway and warned that strict action will be taken against those involved in human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
