Mahasamund, Sep 25 Police in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district have busted a racket operating along the state’s Odisha border through which thousands of bonded labourers were allegedly supplied to brick kilns in various states every year, an official said on Friday.
Five persons, including two from Odisha, have been arrested, said Mahasamund Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar, adding that the racket came to light after the police probed the exploitation of a 15-year-old girl.
The records seized from the accused indicated that each of the five alleged traffickers had been sending between 2,000 and 5,000 labourers every year, without government permission or valid documents, to unregistered brick kilns in different states where they were made to work as bonded labourers for up to six months, he said.
The arrested persons were identified as Mukesh Chandrakar (50) and Naseem Bano alias Lata Sabar (55), both from Nuapada district in Odisha, and Manish Gupta (32), Nandkumar Mohanty (52) and Piyush Agrawal (37) from Mahasamund.
Chandrakar allegedly operated a network of middlemen in Mahasamund and adjoining areas in Odisha. Bano, Gupta, Mohanty and Agrawal allegedly worked under Chandrakar, SP Kumar said.
The investigation began after government hospital officials informed police on September 21 about a 15-year-old girl from Khallari police station area in Mahasamund district being found pregnant, SP Kumar said.
As per the girl and her 19-year-old brother, Chandrakar allegedly used to target economically vulnerable families. In January this year, he allegedly gave the victim’s family an advance of Rs 40,000, and sent them to a brick kiln owned by Singh Bricks, run by Anshuman Singh, in Hajipur Mawai area of Barabanki district, Uttar Pradesh.
The family members was kept in harsh conditions and was not allowed to leave the premises, contact outsiders or return to their village. They were allegedly made to work from 11 am to midnight, or around 13 hours a day, without adequate rest or proper wages, the SP said.
When the girl’s maternal grandfather fell ill, her brother sought permission from Chandrakar to return home. Chandrakar allegedly agreed on the condition that the 15-year-old girl worked at the kiln in his absence.
The girl was allegedly sexually exploited by one Anoop Kumar, an earthmover machine operator at the kiln, the SP said.
The family was allowed to return home in July this year.
Based on the statements of the victim and her family, police registered a case at Khallari police station against Chandrakar and others.
Police teams conducted raids at 10 locations in Chhattisgarh and Odisha during which Rs 1.48 crore in cash, registers and diaries containing details of labour migration, mobile phones, bank passbooks, cheque books, ATM cards and a currency-counting machine were seized and five accused were arrested, SP Kumar said.
Nuapada police in Odisha supported the operation, he said.
The accused also trafficked women and children by advancing money and trapping families in debts, the police official said.
The case was registered under sections 143(2) (human trafficking), 143(4) (trafficking involving a minor), and 111(organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Kumar said, adding that futher probe was on.
(PTI News)
