MUMBAI: A Gujarat man has been arrested for
trafficking 300 children to the US in 11 years, charging Rs 45 lakh per child from his American clients. Thanks to a socially-conscious Mumbai actress, Rajesh Gamlewala's racket was busted by city cops in March (reported by TOI then) and four arrests were made.
Gamlewala (54) was apprehended in Ahmedabad on Monday. The fate of the trafficked children is not yet clear. The children, aged 11-16 years, came from poor families, usually in Gujarat. "Finding it difficult to take care of them, their parents or guardians would sell them," said a police officer.
Gamlewala would get an order from a US client for a child and would instruct his gang to find a poor family.
He would instruct his gang to find a poor family, usually in Gujarat, willing to sell a child, and another family willing to rent out their child's passport. A passport with a picture with some resemblance to the about-to-be trafficked child would be selected. The gang would then pay a carrier to take the child to the US on the chosen passport.
Before that, makeup would be applied on the child for a stronger resemblance with the picture on the passport. The carrier would return after leaving the child in the US and return the rented passport. It is not yet clear how the passport would be stamped by immigration without its bearer's presence.
The racket was busted early March when actor Preeti Sood visited Shringar Salon in Versova one afternoon and got suspicious on finding three men instructing staff on how to apply makeup on two underage girls. "When I asked the men, they claimed to be sending the children to their parents in the US. I told them to accompany me to the police station, but they refused. I managed to stop two of the men and called the police. Meanwhile, the third escaped with the girls," Sood told TOI.
The girls were from
Mehsana district, Gujarat. Sood told TOI on Wednesday, "I got curious when I got a call from my friend who was at the salon that two minors were getting makeup. I went there on a suspicion that the girls were being readied for brothels. Once there, I realized that the racket was bigger than I thought."
Sood got four men arrested by the Versova police, including a retired sub-inspector's son. The four are Amir Khan (26; the policeman's son), Tajuddin Khan (48), Afzal Shaikh (35) and Rizwan Chotani (39).
Gamlewala was tracked with the help of a
WhatsApp number he used to communicate with his accomplices. "Gamlewala has been arrested before. In 2007, he was caught in Mumbai for passport forgery. We were led to his latest racket because of the March arrests," said DCP (Zone IX) Paramjit Singh Dahiya, who cracked the case with a team comprising Versova police senior inspector Ravindra Badgujar, inspector Sanjay Pawar, assistant inspector Bharat Patil, sub-inspector Om Totavar and others.
The accused have been booked under the IPC's sections 34 (common intention) and 373 (buying minor for purposes of prostitution). Gamlewala will be in police custody till August 18. His four cronies are in judicial custody.
Picture for representational purpose only.
