Kolkata (West Bengal): A woman accused of selling her 21-day-old daughter due to poverty was arrested by the Kolkata police on Tuesday. Besides the woman, five other women, suspected to be a part of the cartel linked to international human trafficking, were also taken into custody by the police and they rescued the girl.
The police said the arrested have been identified as Rupali Mandal (accused of selling her daughter)), Rupa Das, Swapna Sardar, Purnima Kundu, Kalyani Guha and Lalita Dey. It is learnt from sources that Rupali has been staying in a rented house located in Nonadanga Railway Colony. Rupali allegedly sold her daughter to Kalyani Guha for Rs 4 lakh. Police freed the trafficked girl from the clutches of Kalyani Guha, and legal formalities were underway to send the rescued girl home.
Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata police, Arish Bilal told ETV Bharat, "Accused Rupali Mandal, the mother of a 21-day-old daughter, has been arrested by the police. Today, the Kolkata police will produce the arrested woman before the Alipore court to seek her custody. A case of human trafficking has already been registered at Anandpur police station. The women constables of the police station are interrogating the accused woman."
The cops were suspecting that the international women trafficking cartel may be involved in the whole incident. Apart from the main accused, five other arrested women are also grilled by the police on charges of suspicion. They are being interrogated separately.
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"We are making efforts to find out, apart from these six arrested women, who else is involved in the trafficking racket," the DC added. Sources in Kolkata police said that Rupali Mandal was arrested from Block C-6 in Kolkata city. She is staying in rented accommodation in the Nonadanga Rail Colony area. Rupa Das was nabbed from Patuli. Swapna Sardar was taken into custody from Bagha Jatin and Purnima Kundu was arrested from Lohapool Bridge number 4.
On the other hand, Lalita Dey was arrested from Baba Charan Roy Road and Kalyani Guha was nabbed from the Parnasree Police Station area. The police came to know that the remaining five acted as middlemen in the sale of Rupali's daughter. The Kolkata police headquarters' Lalbazar sources said that although Kalyani Guha is temporarily staying in a rented house in Kolkata's Sonadanga area. But, she is actually a resident of East Midnapore. The Intelligence Department of the Kolkata police has begun establishing contact with their East Midnapore district police counterpart to get to the bottom of the case.
