NIA nabs alleged human trafficker in national capital

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a man for his alleged involvement in running a human trafficking racket. The racket, according to the NIA, was run under the guise of a placement agency in Delhi as a front, an NIA official said on Thursday.

New Delhi: Gopal Oraon (28), a resident of Jharkhand's Khunti, was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a human trafficking racket case by the NIA, a spokesperson of the National Investigation Agency said.

Oraon was a close associate of arrested accused Panna Lal Mahto and was actively involved in the human trafficking racket, the official said. The case arose out of an FIR registered on July 19 last year in Khunti under sections of the IPC and sections of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act. The NIA re-registered the case on March 4 and took up the investigation.

Mahto and his wife Sunita Devi were running this racket under the guise of three placement agencies in Delhi, the NIA official said. They used to bring poor and innocent minor boys and girls from Jharkhand on the pretext of providing them jobs in Delhi and neighbouring states but never paid them salaries. Oraon used to help them in this exploitative work, according to the NIA official.

Searches were also conducted at the residential premises of facilitators located in four different districts of Jharkhand — Pakur, Sahibganj, Gumla and Khunti, the official said. Several incriminating documents, railway tickets and mobile handsets have been seized, the official said. Further investigation in the case is underway, the spokesperson added.

PTI