In 2013, a man kidnapped two girls from Dhaka and sold them to flesh trade agents in Pune. In a rescue operation, the police made a raid at brothels and found the girls. They later sent the girls back to Bangladesh.
The sex racket
In 2013, over 10 years ago, a man abducted two girls from a Bangladeshi family and sold them to sex racketeers in India. The girls were both minors at the time of the kidnapping, aged 15 and 17. The girls were tracked down in Pune and were rescued by the Pune city police, led by police inspector Bhanupratap Barge of the crime branch.
The team of police rescued the Bangladeshi girls in a ‘24-hour, non-stop operation’. The girls were then sent to Bangladesh.
According to the police, the accused identified as Rocky had an affair with one of the victims. Assuring the girl of several fake commitments, the accused kidnapped her and her sister from Dhaka on 14th May 2013. The accused entered India through the border illegally with the two victims.
The search for the girls began in Mumbai when an official from the law enforcement machinery in Bangladesh’s government initiated contact with the officials in India. The Bangladeshi authorities made a request to track down the girls after they suspected that the girls were being taken to Mumbai. However, after the search operation was conducted, the girls were not found in Mumbai.
The girls were later found by a sex worker in Pune who contacted their family members (who are based in Kolkata) to help them reunite. The uncle of the victims who lives in Bangladesh was then contacted and informed of the same.
Girl rescued from empty water tank
Police inspector Bhanupratap Barge and the team received information from the informers after which they began with the search in Budhwar Peth and Shukrawar Peth areas. Inspector Barge received the information of an auto driver who was responsible for dropping off the girls at the brothel in Pune. The crucial tip was given by his informer ‘Mumtaz’.
According to him, they obtained further leads from the questioning of the autorickshaw driver and were able to trace one of the victims. The girl was found in an empty water tank on the roof of a brothel situated in Budhwar Peth. Two accused, Sunil Vichare and Taniya Vyapari, were arrested by the police team.
Second victim rescued by distracting the guard dogs with mutton
The authorities reported that Rocky was a well-known figure in the sex trafficking industry and had sold the two siblings to pimps Mukti and Taniya in Pune, fetching amounts of Rs 50,000 and Rs 70,000 for the sisters respectively. Taniya supposedly transferred one of the girls to a brothel in Budhwar Peth, while her sibling was handed over to Vilas Kasle, a person involved in both construction and the sex trade.
Kasle was apprehended by the police, and using information obtained from him, they located a residence in the Undri area. To avoid alerting the occupants, including security personnel, the police employed a strategic tactic involving distracting guard dogs by throwing pieces of mutton to keep them from barking. This allowed them to discreetly enter the premises and successfully rescue the second girl, a significant operation spanning 24 hours and necessitating coordination between the two countries’ governments.
Upon being reunited, the rescued sisters were overcome with emotion, marking a crucial mission that was executed diligently. The operation was led by Barge, a retired assistant commissioner of police who had been honoured with the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
