Hunt for missing 4-year-old girl helps cops uncover sex racket

The Mulund police has uncovered a sex racket while probing a case involving abduction of a four-year-old girl from the neighbourhood who went missing while playing with other children near her home on Monday night.

Barely a day later, the police rescued the girl from the Mumbra house of one Sangita Lagade (50) who acts as a pimp for a Rajasthan-based prostitution racket that specialises in abducting and luring young girls into the flesh trade.

According to the police, it was the girl’s uncle who abducted her and sold her to Lagade for just Rs 5,000. Lagade was allegedly planning to send the girl to a Rajasthan-based brothel. During investigation, the police found two other minor girls who had been similarly abducted from their homes and were being sold for Rs 55,000 to a Rajasthan-based accused associated with the said brothel.

The police has arrested the uncle, Lagade and two of her associates linked to the racket along with two others. With the arrest of six persons, including three women, the Mulund police claims to have busted a human trafficking racket operating in Thane district. Investigation revealed that the gang sold quite a few children in the past one year. The police is verifying the same.

“During questioning, the accused persons said they used to abduct girls and sell them off, mostly to sex workers in other states,\" said SPI Rajaram Vhanmane. The arrested have been identified as Dilip Dhuria (33), Tufan Nishad (33), Mohhamad Shah (33), Sangita lagade (50), Mungal Chandanshive (26), and Mamta Raj (21).

The racket came to light when the police began investigating the abduction of the four-year-old girl from ACC road in Mulund West on the night of October 31.