Teams of the Mumbai police and Crime Branch set up nakabandis and traced the girl by her cellphone location; she was rescued from the pimp’s house before he struck a deal
A girl’s quick thinking and the police’s immediate action saved the 19-year-old from being trapped in the flesh trade. Mumbai police and Crime Branch unit 11 together saved the girl and arrested the accused 32-year-old Chandrakant Suresh Mahida, a pimp she had befriended.
Illustration/Uday Mohite
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The incident occurred on Saturday evening when the teenaged girl fought with her parents and left her home. She then met Mahida, who promised her a job and a home. “She was wooed by the offer and went with the accused, who took her to a hotel in Saki Naka. Since the girl is short and petite, she appeared a minor and wasn’t allowed in the hotel,” said a police officer.
The girl became suspicious and called the police control room asking for help. What followed was a desperate search by the police and the Crime Branch. “From inspectors to DCPs, everyone was on the road trying to trace the girl. The accused had taken the girl in his car to Mira Road. We had put up barricades near Dahisar but they had already passed that area. We then traced the girl’s location through her cell phone and rescued her from an apartment in Jesal Park area in Mira Bhayandar,” said a police officer.
Police said the accused had sold many girls earlier. “The accused has supplied several girls in the past and we are trying to break the nexus. The girl was handed over to her parents. She was traumatised by the incident and is trying to recover. The case has been transferred to Navghar police station in Bhayandar for further investigation,” said the officer.
Mahida has been booked under Sections 363 (Punishment for kidnapping), 366 (Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage), 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement, kidnapped or abducted person), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
A Crime Branch officer said, “As the girl is very young, the accused was taking a huge amount for her. Several more accused are to be arrested in this human trafficking case.”
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