The Andhra Pradesh police have busted a major sex trafficking ring operating in the region while probing a case of rape and illegal confinement of a 13-year-old. The girl was rescued on December 16, 2021, and after a probe spanning over four months, authorities arrested 10 more people this week, taking the total count to 80, including top bosses and solicitors.
The investigating officer in the case, additional superintendent of police (West Guntur) K Supraja, also incharge of the Disha police station, spoke exclusively to News18 about how the force managed to apprehend this multi-state ring. Along with her 14-member team, she managed to track down all the main accused in the case, including a former Home Guards officer.
The additional SP said the prostitution ring was not just a well-planned one but was spread over Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. She explained how the accused would target young girls and women from economically backward families, especially those who were hit hard by the pandemic.
Two women, Swarna Kumari and Jessintha Yaanamm, were the queen-pins of the operation across the two states. Their network was spread wide and they allegedly catered to clients across cities, including one who had come visiting from London.
Kumari forced this young girl into prostitution and shifted her from one brothel to another for over eight months. On interrogation, Kumari revealed to the police that they would circulate young girls between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and would often change their locations to remain under the police radar.
“The young girl had been subjected to such abuse that she developed a severe infection in her private parts. She was intoxicated to do things that the clients wanted. When I spoke to her, she was tongue-tied as she was too shocked to reveal what her so-called customers wanted from her. It’s barbaric and we will ensure that each and every accused is punished by law,” Supraja said.
Recounting how the victim landed in the hands of the traffickers, the officer said that the girl along with her mother was admitted to the Guntur Government Hospital during the second Covid wave. The main accused, Swarna Kumari, who was one of the first to be arrested by the additional superintendent of police, would visit wards and try to befriend young women in the name of providing them with a “natural cure” for Covid-19.
Kumari did the same with the victim and her parents. The mother died and Kumari found her opportunity to take control of the girl and lure her away.
She began to convince the girl’s father that she could take good care of the child while he worked for their daily sustenance. As part of Covid guidelines, burial grounds were located away from the city. After the final rites of the victim’s mother were conducted, Kumari convinced the girl to travel with her to her home in Guntur.
“Swarna Kumari made the victim call her father to tell him that she would like to spend some days of her mourning period with Kumari. However, the victim told us that one day a young man, who was heavily drenched, came to the house and Swarna Kumari asked her to hand him a towel. He then forced himself on her after intoxicating her,” the officer explained.
The victims were taken to various places including Hyderabad, Nellore, Kakinada, Ongole, Prakasam, and East and West Godavari districts, based on the demands made by clients.
“Each time the victim’s father would ask to speak with her, Swarna Kumari would threaten the girl to speak as if she was doing well or face dire consequences,” the officer said.
On one occasion in October 2021, the girl managed to escape from the clutches of Swarna Kumari. In order to ensure that the victim’s father did not turn suspicious, Kumari filed a missing complaint at the Nallapadu police station. In the complaint, Kumari claimed that the girl was lost in a crowd when she was being taken for treatment for Covid-19. The victim’s father was shown the FIR by Kumari to make the whole incident seem authentic.
During this time, the girl, who had escaped, was assaulted by a local villager to whom she reached out for help. He raped her and paid her Rs 500. With that money in hand, the victim boarded a bus to Vijayawada and that’s when she came in contact with a woman who promised to take her to a safe place.
“This is when she fell into a second trap. Once again she was caught in the flesh trade ring. But now, the victim was unwell as she had a severe infection in her private areas. She was sold to another woman called Jessintha Yaanam,” the officer told News 18.
Jessintha, a former Home Guards officer, is the second key accused in this case. After having served in the voluntary force between 1988 and 1993, she became an avowed women’s rights advocate. She would indulge in prostitution herself while putting up a front of being an activist, the police said. Her daughter, Hema Latha, who is also an accused in this case, allegedly assisted her mother in identifying “probable” girls to add to their ring.
Additional SP Supraja’s team was handed over the case in December 2021. Since then they began tracking the cellphone numbers of the accused who have been arrested to flush out the entire gang that was part of this sex trafficking ring.
“We have enough evidence to convict all those arrested. It was a laborious process but we have ensured that every one of the 80 arrested spent 110 days in prison and we have conducted a detailed investigation into their network. This has been a major bust, but our work does not stop here. We will ensure that every accused in this case is convicted and sent to jail,” the officer said.
Read all the Latest News India and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment