Sushma Swaraj's intervention rescues woman from prostitution racket

Mumbai agent Farooq Ansari and Ahmedabad agent Rihan BanuIt took Sushma Swarajs usual timely intervention and tireless efforts over 15 days by the Ahmedabad Womens Cell crime branch officers to rescue a woman forced into an intercountry prostitution racket in Riyadh after she was lured there on the promise of a job The crime branch has arrested the agents from Mumbai and Ahmedabad running the racket and is investigating furtherAssistant commissioner of police Ahmedabad Womens Cell M Tanna said that 15 days ago the family of the 37yearold victim who had gone to Riyadh on the lure of a job received a call from her after three months where she narrated her ordeal to themShocked the family had gone to the police who managed to reach out to the external affairs minister for her help She had then got the embassy there involved after which the police managed to bring the victim back and reunite her with her family three days agoThe job trapThe woman had been contacted by one Rihan Banu 50 who had offered her the job of a helper in a beauty salon in Riyadh Banu allegedly sent her to Mumbai to Dongri resident Farooq Ansari 48 who did all the paperwork and sent her to Saudi Arabia on January 16ldquoAfter I landed in Riyadh my escorts took me to a place called Alga There I was put up in a flat Expecting to start my job I got dressed the next day only to find out that I had been sold to an Arab and I had to go with him A woman named Rupaiya gave me instructions but I refused to go anywhererdquo said the victim now admitted in a civil hospital in AhmedabadWith the two women facing a language problem Rupaiya even asked her driver from Bangladesh to explain everything to the woman in Hindi The driver then told the victim that if she wanted to return to India she would have to do as his employer said but the victim refused to budgeThey then locked her up in a room without food and water but she managed to escape after two days Running on the street she requested a passerby to lend her her mobile phone to make a call to her family in Ahmedabad Shortly after the call however her captors caught up with her and took her back They beat her up and injected a drug in her legs to make her weak and stop her from running away again and give in to their demandsFamily takes actionIn the meanwhile her family informed the police who immediately traced and arrested Banu Her interrogation led them to Farooq who used to supply the women With the help of the Mumbai crime branch the police arrested him his brother Maqsood also a part of the racket managed to get away Farooq told the police that they have together sent about 100 women from Ahmedabad to Gulf countries over the past yearThe police then got in touch with a Telangana politician who had earlier helped a woman return to India from the Gulf The politician contacted Swaraj The police asked Farooq to contact Rupaiya in Riyadh who not knowing he had been arrested agreed to send the victim back if they sent her another woman Farooq assured her that his brother Maqsood would send her another woman at the earliest With the victim refusing to give in and giving all of them a tough time there Rupaiya allowed her to go on Farooqs promiseThe police reunited the victim with her family three days ago ldquoWe have arrested the agents and will present them before court soonrdquo said Tanna