The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday filed a charge sheet against four persons who ran a human trafficking racket in the guise of placement agencies in Jharkhand and New Delhi, an official said.
Sunita Devi, who is absconding, has been named in the charge sheet along with Panna Lal Mahto, Gopal Oraon and Shiv Shankar Ganjhu under sections of the IPC, the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, the NIA official said.
The case was initially registered in Jharkhand’s Khunti district on July 19, 2019 after Mahto, 37, was arrested for running a human trafficking network in Jharkhand and New Delhi, he said.
The NIA took over the investigation in June last year. Mahto, who is the kingpin of the alleged human trafficking racket along with his wife Sunita, was operating a human trafficking network in the guise of six placement agencies in Delhi, the NIA official said.
They used to traffic poor and innocent minor boys and girls from Jharkhand on the pretext of providing them jobs in Delhi and neighbouring States, the official said, adding the victims were exploited and were never paid the promised remunerations, the official said.
Oraon and Ganjhu, the close associates of Mahto, were arrested. They were actively involved in trafficking vulnerable persons from Jharkhand, the NIA official said.
Investigation revealed that both were owners of three placement agencies in Delhi which were involved in human trafficking racket, the official said. In order to unveil the racket, 22 victims have been identified, rescued and examined so far, the NIA said, adding that further investigation was under way.