New Delhi, Jan 14, 2013, DHNS:

 

A 20-year-old woman from Karnataka was allegedly sold to a man for Rs one lakh, who raped her several times at a house in capital’s Ghazipur area, police said on Monday.

The victim, however, managed to escape and approached the Delhi police. Three persons, including two women, have been arrested after a case was registered with Ghazipur police station in East district.

According to police, the victim is married and used to stay in Bangalore with her husband. She came in contact with a human trafficking gang after leaving her home following a minor altercation with her husband on January 1. The gang members allegedly lured her on the pretext of providing a job in Delhi and sold her to a man named Zakir for Rs one lakh.

After the deal was fixed, a female member of the gang brought the victim to Delhi. “They had taken a train from Bangalore and arrived at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station on January 6. Zakir, along with his accomplice, identified as Geeta, was already present to receive her,” a police official said.

It is alleged that after the victim was handed over to Zakir and Geeta, the female gang member returned to Bangalore. The duo then took her to a house in Mulla Colony at Ghazipur, where she was held captive.

The police official said that Zakir allegedly drugged the woman — while she was in his custody — and raped her several times. When she tried to resist, he told her that he had bought her for Rs one lakh and hence, she had to obey his orders. Geeta used to keep a watch on the woman in the house.

Soon after this, Zakir and Geeta contacted clients in Mumbai and Pune to sell off the woman, but she managed to flee on January 9. The duo was arrested after police probe on January 11.

On sustained interrogation, Zakir told police that he was part of a human trafficking gang and on previous occasion, even sold a woman at a brothel at central Delhi’s GB Road.
The brothel owner, a woman named Mumtaz, was arrested on January 12. “Probe is on to unearth the entire gang,” the official said.