Rohit Muni, the alleged human trafficker from Jharkhand’s Simdega, has a rags- to-riches story.

A tailor from Bihar struggling to make daily ends meet, he went to Delhi in search of a job during 1990’s. Dissatisfied with a meagre income, he got in touch with some placement agencies. While he was trying to run his own placement agency at Shakarpur, he met Prabha Muni Minj from Dandapani village of Jashpur district in Uttarakhand.

They had much in common, including business ideas. They married in 2001, and together the husband-wife duo made crores of rupees running a human trafficking racket, transporting women, including minors from the rural areas of the state to metropolitan cities across the country, police said.

The duo lived a lavish lifestyle with properties worth around Rs 250 crore, including a flat at West Punjabi Bagh and an office at Nihal Vihar. They opened a bag store along with a production house. The couple’s daughter is the lead actress in a recently shot Chota Nagpuri movie.

But, their luck ran out when a joint team of Simdega and Delhi police arrested Prabha on September 23 from Delhi. She along with her husband was absconding in a 2013 human trafficking case at Simdega. Meanwhile, Rohit had escaped to a hideout at Trimuhan village in Kahalgaon district of Bihar, from where he was arrested on October 8.

After being brought to Simdega on a transit remand, the accused was sent to jail on Saturday. Police would seek the custody of Rohit after further investigations,” said Sanjeev Kumar, Simdega superintendent of police. “The accused has told police about his involvement in several trafficking cases. An anti-human trafficking unit would shortly leave for Delhi to verify the statements of the accused, “Kumar said.

He said the pending warrant issued by a Simdega court in the 2013 trafficking case was executed on Saturday. On May 6, 2013, a woman had registered a case against Rohit under Jaldega police station limits of the district for trafficking her 14-year-old maternal grand daughter and her two minor friends to New Delhi. The minors were later rescued with the help of a Delhi-based NGO.

The SP said that Rohit told police that the couple ran two NGOs, Sampoorn Gharelu Kaamgaar Sarvekshan Evam Utthan Samiti and Sampoorn Adivasi Sanskritik Utthan Manch. His wife was the vice-president of an organisation All India Christian Minority Council. They used the NGO’s and the council’s name to facilitate illegal transportation of women from Jharkhand and Odisha to various placement agencies at metropolitan cities in the country, he said.

Police said that according to the statements made by the couple, they reportedly had close links with various political leaders and bureaucrats in Jharkhand and Delhi. The Facebook page of Prabha Muni shows her flaunting photographs with police top brass and political leaders.

Every year, on December 25, the couple used to organise a grand party, which was thronged by political leaders, police officers and bureaucrats. The role of those who attended the party is under scanner, police said.

First Published: Nov 13, 2018 15:46 IST