INTERNATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING CRIME SYNDICATE HAVING ROOTS ACROSS THE BORDER BUSTED

• MASTERMIND COUPLE AND ASSOCIATES ARRESTED.
• ACCUSED HAVE AMASSED HUGE WEALTH THROUGH HUMAN TRAFFICKING.
• TOTAL EIGHT ACCUSED ARRESTED WITH RECOVERY OF FOUR LUXURY VEHICLES AND SUBSTANTIVE AMOUNT DEPOSITS.

INTRODUCTION:- Instances of forced prostitution have often come to notice at infamous Swami Shardhanand Marg, Delhi (previously known as G.B. Road). Action is taken by police from time to time under appropriate sections of IPC and ITP Act but such activities are still continuing in an organized manner and a lot more concerted action is required to be taken to check this menace.

Therefore, Crime Branch undertook the study of crime pattern for instituting effective action against the main perpetrators and real beneficiaries of this illegal trade. It has been revealed that the victim girls, most of whom are minor and belong to poor families, are trafficked from Nepal and various other parts of the country by some agents in an organized manner. The girls are brought to Delhi on the pretext of providing lucrative jobs, sight seeing, fake promise of soliciting marriage with them by the agents, etc. They are sold to the kotha owners at G.B. Road for 1-2 lac. The victims are thrashed, confined in hidden cells, intoxicated and kept starved for many days to force them in this nasty commercial activity. While the victims are compelled to live in hell like circumstances, their distressed family members keep running from pillar to post to trace them. The girls are paid meager amount once the amount spent for buying them alongwith interest @ 8-10% per month is recovered from their earnings. Such immoral and illegal trade is huge source of black money.

It was further revealed that more than 80% business at G.B. Road is controlled by 2-3 operators, who have their own network of agents. One of such operators were identified as husband-wife duo namely Afaq Hussain and Saira Begum, who reside at some other place but control everything very closely through their handpicked kotha managers called Nayikas, musclemen etc. Further scrutiny revealed that earlier the kotha premises were purchased by the duo in wife’s name and both of them were arrested by Crime Branch in two cases of 2013.

In order to evade further legal action, they have transferred the ownership title of their kotha premises to some of their confident associates lately. In this manner, they had planned to continue their illegal activities unabated without the fear of being nabbed. They have amassed disproportionate wealth to the tune of crores of rupees from this illegal and immoral trade.

In order to curb ghastly activities of this criminal syndicate of human trafficking and prostitution operating at GB Road, Crime Branch has launched massive action and has invoked provisions of MCOCA against them for the first time ever.

Sub-Inspectors Virender Tyagi and Rohit played crucial role in preparing the proposal for invoking MCOCA.

OPERATION: - Crime Branch has busted a human trafficking syndicate run by one Afaq Hussain and his wife Saira @ Saria Begum, being operated with the help of traffickers, managers, nayikas and other associates. The accused control and carry forward the illegal business of human trafficking and prostitution, and have been receiving earnings from the business of commercial sexual exploitation since year 1999 to till date. Syndicate of Saira Begum and Afaq Hussian is active in red light area of Delhi infamously named as G. B. Road at Kamal Market, Delhi. In order to curb the menace of human trafficking right in the heart of Delhi, a case under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act was registered vide FIR No.144/16 u/s 3 & 4 MCOCA, dated 19.08.2016 in PS Crime Branch. During investigation of the case, apart from main accused Afaq Hussain and his wife Saira @ Saria Begum, their six associates have also been arrested.  

On preliminary enquiry and information collected from sources, it was revealed that a human trafficking syndicate run by one Afaq Hussain and his wife Saira @ Saria Begum was being operated with the help of traffickers, managers, nayikas and other associates. The accused control and carry forward the illegal business of human trafficking and prostitution, and have been receiving earnings from the business of commercial sexual exploitation. The details of cases registered against the couple reflect that the traffickers brought the girls from different parts of India to brothels at G.B. Road. Afaq Hussain controls the business of trafficking of girls and indulged in commercial sexual exploitation. In order to hide his criminal activities, he has handed over the management of the Kothas of G.B. Road, Delhi in the name of managers and nayikas including Shamshad, Mumtaz, Shilpa @ Tulsi and Pooja. All these nayikas helped him in running the management of Kotha. Afaq Hussain used to pay them 15% of the earnings for their roles. Sarfraz @ Billi provides muscle power to this business. The destitute girls were brought to G.B. Road, Kothas from various states, and even from Nepal. Movement / travel of so many girls is not possible without the organized crime syndicate. Saira @ Saria Begum and her husband are controlling this organized racket of human trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation with the help of different paid managers, nayikas and traffickers.

Commercial sexual exploitation of the trafficked girls is their main source of income. They have also purchased various properties at Swami Shardhanand Marg (G.B. Road), and other place in different states.

INFORMATION, TEAM AND OPERATION: - Keeping in view the sensitivity of the case, a core team of Crime Branch led by DCP/Crime Bhisham Singh and ACPs Ishwar Singh and N.K. Meena alongwith Inspr. Atul Tyagi and Inspr. Pankaj Arora, SIs Nagender Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Arvind Kumar, Virender Tyagi, HCs Ravinder Kumar, Gangadhar, Hamender, Virender, Sandeep, Cts. Pradeep, Surender and Rakesh was constituted to unearth the racket and apprehend the accused persons.

The above team of Crime Branch started conducting in-depth investigation of the case to bust the racket and monitored movements of the accused persons. On 25.8.2016 raids were conducted at different locations in Delhi and accused Afaq Hussain, Saira Begum, Ramesh Pandey and Vasudev Pandey (later two residents of Nepal) were arrested.  

MODUS OPERANDI: - Brief facts of the case are that earlier in year 2013, acting on an information regarding forced prostitution by two minor girls G. B. Road, Delhi, a joint raid comprising of CBI, Crime Branch and local police was conducted at Kotha No.57, 1st Floor (LHS), G.B. Road, Delhi and two girls (1) Taslima Khatoon and (2) Bimla Gurang both from West Bengal, were rescued from Kotha No.57, 1st Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi. On the statement of these rescued girls two separate criminal cases vide FIR No.44 dated 09.03.2013, under Section 342/366A/370/372/376/34 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Section 4/5/6 of ITP Act, read with Section 6,8 of POCSO Act and FIR No. 45 dated 09.03.2013 under Section 342, 366A, 370, 372, 376, 34 of Indian Penal Code, 1860, read with 4,5,6 ITP Act, respectively were got registered at Police Station, Crime Branch, New Delhi.

During investigation of the above mentioned two cases, on 16.06.2015, the registered owner of the alleged Kotha, i.e. Ms. Saira Begum d/o Muharram Ali and her husband Afaq Hussain s/o Iqbal Hussain were arrested. On interrogation of both the accused persons, It became apparent that, they are running an organized racket of human trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation of poor, destitute girls with the help of traffickers, harbourers, managers and nayikas under coercion, criminal force, and violence, with the objective of undue pecuniary benefits.

Saira @ Saria Begum originally belongs to Hyderabad, Andhra Pardesh. After the death of her parents, she came to Delhi with her husband Talaf Hussain to earn her livelihood but when she and her husband did not find any work for few days, she started working as sex worker at Kotha No.58, G.B. Road, Delhi.

Earlier also, Saira Begum was arrested in the year 1990 in case FIR No.80/90 u/s 8 ITP Act, PS Kamla Market, when she was found soliciting and seducing at public place at G.B. Road, Delhi. She was convicted by the Hon’ble court in the said case.

After this case, she gradually started a racket of commercial sexual exploitation at Kotha No.58, G.B. Road Delhi, at the same Kotha where she was a sex worker, to earn huge amount of money. She was again arrested in case FIR No.253/01, u/s 368/363/372/373/376/342/506/323109/34 IPC & 3/4/5/6 ITP Act, PS Kamla Market, Delhi, when eight girls belonging to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Nepal were rescued from Kotha No.58, G.B. Road. She was convicted in this case for seven years. It was at Kotha No.58, G.B. Road, that Saira came in contact with Afaq Hussain.

Accused Afaq Hussain belongs to a poor family of Moradabad, UP and came to Delhi to earn his livelihood. He started working as a private contractor but did not find any permanent source of income. Afaq Hussain came in contact with Saira @ Saria Begum at Kotha no 58, G B Road Delhi. He was attracted by huge earnings of Saira @ Saria Begum from her prostitution racket business and he offered to marry her and had an informal ‘Nikah’ with her in 1999. After that, they started assisting each other in carrying out illegal activities of immoral trafficking with the help of different associates i.e. paid managers, nayikas and traffickers.  

When Saira was in jail, her husband Afaq Hussian looked after the prostitution racket with the help of his different associates. However, after the release of Saira @ Saria Begum from jail, both husband and wife restricted their visits to Kothas to prevent from being exposed and to avoid any further involvement in criminal cases. This came to light during the investigation of cases FIR No.44/13 and 45/13 PS Crime Branch.  However, they continued to control and carry forward the illegal business of prostitution and receiving earnings from the business of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of poor and destitute girls trafficked from different remote areas of the country through traffickers, paid manager and other associates.

PREVIOUS INVOLVEMENTS: - In the year 2003, Saira @ Saria Begum and Afaq Hussain purchased Kotha No.57, 1st Floor (LHS), G.B. Road, Delhi for the purpose of running the business of commercial sexual exploitation by using coercion, criminal force, violence etc with the object of gaining pecuniary benefit or gaining more economic advantages.

In the year 2005, on the basis of secret information, when police official of PS Kamla Market raided at Kotha No.40, 2nd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi, four girls, two from Andhra Pradesh, one from Jharkhand and one from Delhi were rescued and case FIR No.197/05, u/s 366A,368,372,373,376,323,109.34 IPC & 3,4,5,6 ITP Act, PS Kamla Market was registered. During investigation of the above mentioned case, it came to light that after the temporary closure of Kotha No.57, 1st Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi, Saira @ Saria Begum and her husband temporarily shifted their racket of prostitution to a rented place i.e. at Kotha No.40, 2nd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi. This has been mentioned in the said FIR and also in the chargesheet.  In this case also both Afaq Hussain and Saira @ Saria Begum were arrested.

In year 2011, Saira @ Saria Begum and Afaq Hussain also purchased Kotha No.56, 1st (RHS), G.B. Road, Delhi from the earnings out of prostitution racket at Kotha No.57, 1st Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi as they had no other known source of income.  Besides this, they also purchased different property/shops at different places in Delhi.

From the investigation of case FIR No.102/14, PS Crime Branch and 44/13 and 45/15, PS Crime Branch, Delhi, it has also come to notice that Saira Begum also purchased Kotha i.e. 56, 1st Floor (RHS), G.B. Road, Delhi in year 2011. In Case FIR No.44/13, PS Crime Branch, Afaq Hussain also disclosed that he and his wife Saira @ Saria Begum had also recently purchased Kotha No.64, 2nd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi.

During further course of investigation in case FIR No.102/14, 420/476/468/471/34 IPC, PS Crime Branch, Delhi, Saira @ Saria Begum has disclosed that she had conspired with her sister Parwati @ Paro and forged the sale deed of a property of Kucha Pandit. This forged sale deed was illegally used to get an electricity connection at Kotha No.57, G.B. Road, Delhi, to prevent herself from future legal implications.  Saira @ Saria Begum is following the same modus operandi of creating documents on the name of others to escape the long arms of the law.  This is revealed from the material facts that she has sold the Kothas to different persons on paper while she continues to control and carry forward the illegal trade of sexual exploitation of girls at these Kothas by coercion, violence, intimidation and other unlawful means for gaining pecuniary benefits or gaining undue economic advantages.  

Thereafter, in case FIR No 94/15, 376,342,506 IPC, 3,4 ITPAct  PS Crime Branch, it came to light that Saira @ Saria Begum further sold the alleged Kotha No.57, 1st Floor, G.B. Road Delhi to Jamna d/o Rajesh r/o 68, Shardhanand Marg, on 30/7/2015. However, they continued to control and run the illegal racket of commercial sexual exploitation of girls and women. Saira @ Saria Begum has also sold Kotha No. 56 to one Shamshad Begum who is actually a front for her in running this business of commercial sexual exploitation.

They have committed a series of serious offences and have spread fear psychosis and terror in the minds of victims. The income earned through these illegal activities is shared by both Saira @ Saria and Afaq with their associates (traffickers, paid Managers and Nayikas, harbourer, traffickers), who assist them in running the organized syndicate of Human Trafficking for the purpose of Commercial Sexual Exploitation. Further evidence is being collected during the in depth investigation going on in respect this crime syndicate.

In the light of above mentioned facts, it is pertinent to mention that the above mentioned accused persons are members of an organized crime syndicate.  They have committed a series of organized human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and they are still continuing their unlawful activities with the help of their aides and associates for gaining pecuniary benefits or gaining undue economic or other advantage.  The income derived out of this criminal act is used to further consolidate their racket of commercial sexual exploitation.

During the course of investigation after having sufficient evidence on file, accused Afaq Hussain @ Afaque @ Baujee,  Ramesh Pandey were arrested on 25/08/2016 and were produced on the same day before the Court and their seven days Police custody remand was obtained. Later, 2 more accused persons namely (i) Basu Dev Pandey s/o Jeeb Raj Pandey r/o Nepal & Kotha No.56, G.B. Road, Delhi, (ii) Mrs. Saira Begum were arrested in the present case. On 28.08.2016, four more persons (i) Pooja w/o Raju r/o Kotha No.64, 3rd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi (ii) Shamshad s/o Pakhru r/o Kotha No.56, 2nd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi, (iii) Shilpa @ Tulsi w/o Errappa r/o Khotha No.56, 2nd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi and (iv) Mumtaj d/o Muharram r/o Kotha No.64, 3rd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi were arrested. Sarfaraz @ Billi, one of the main accused and muscleman, is absconding.

RECOVERY: -

• Four luxury cars recovered and 2 identified (Fortuners, Toyota Innovas, Hondas).
• Nine lakh rupees in cash.
• Substantive amounts of deposits in bank accounts of accused (in crores).

The details of the properties amassed by Saria Begum and Afaq Hussain are as under: -

1. D-11, 1st Floor, Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Extn., Delhi.
2. H-690, Jaipur Extn., Part-II, Delhi.
3. H-690/1, Jaitpur Extn., Part-II, Delhi.
4. A-35, 1st Floor, Bhagwan Nagar, Sunlight Colony, Delhi.
5. No.19, J. Nagar, 7 Cross Road, Bangalore.
6. H.No.298, 7 Cross Road, J.P. Nagar Extn., Banglore.
7. Kotha No.56, 1st Floor, Left Hand Side, G.B. Road, Delhi.
8. Kotha No.56, 1st Floor, Right Hand Side, G.B. Road, Delhi.
9. Kotha No.56, 2nd Floor, Left Hand Side, G.B. Road, Delhi.
10. Kotha No.56, 2nd Floor, Right Hand Side, G.B. Road, Delhi.
11. Kotha No.64, 1st Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi.
12. Kotha No.64, 2nd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi.