INTERNATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RACKET SPREAD IN INDIA, NEPAL, SRI LANKA, DUBAI, OMAN AND KUWAIT BUSTED

• KINGPIN/PRIME ACCUSED AND CO-ACCUSED LADY CARE TAKER OF SHELTER HOME ARRESTED.
• 26 WOMEN INCLUDING 16 NEPALESE AND 10 INDIAN RESCUED.
• 2 PASSPORTS OF VICTIMS RECOVERED.
• 6 MOBILE PHONES OF ACCUSED USED FOR RUNNING RACKET RECOVERED.

Crime Branch has busted an international human trafficking racket spread in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Dubai, Kuwait and Oman and rescued 26 women including 10 Indian, 16 Nepalese and arrested 2 accused persons. All rescued women are major, most of them married, belong to very poor background and hail from Nepal and India. They were brought on the allurement of providing jobs in Gulf countries.

The kingpin and  prime accused Shabin Shah @ Shobhin Keshi (52 yrs) s/o Anand Bahadur r/o Roopnagar, Delhi, is a Nepali citizen and permanent resident of Trikpur, Ward No.7, Dang, Nepal & Lazimeath, Ward No.3, Kathmandu, Nepal and his associate Indian lady Bidya Lama @ Laxmi (34 yrs) r/o Jalpaigudi, West Bengal, India, who is care taker of the shelter house used for confinement of victims and is also actively involved in this racket have been arrested. From the possession of the accused persons, 2 passports of victims, 6 mobile phones and boarding ticket were recovered.  

INCIDENT, TEAM AND OPERATION: - On 01.09.16, two Nepalese women submitted a complaint to Crime Branch of Delhi Police on which a case u/s 370/344/120B/506/509 IPC was registered. The women alleged that they were brought to New Delhi by Ramu Choudhary and Shabin Shah @ Keshi, both residents of Nepal, on the allurement of providing jobs in Gulf countries and were kept in Mahipalpur area for more than 10 days in confinement. Their passports were also seized by the accused and their movement was strictly restricted. On 01.09.2016, both ladies somehow escaped from the flat in which they were confined and with the help of some Nepali contacts in Delhi, they reached Nepal Embassy, who directed them to Delhi Police for legal action.

After registration of the case, a dedicated team of Northern Range, Crime Branch, Sector-18, Rohini led by DCP Dr. G. Ram Gopal Naik, consisting of ACP Jitender Singh, Inspr. Ravinder Verma, SIs Vipin Yadav, Sukram Pal, Baljeet Singh, Rohit, ASIs Sanjay Guleria, Mahesh, Sukhbir, W/ASI Manju Sharma, W/HC Bimla, HCs Sunil Sehrawat, Vijay Tyagi, Yatender, Pradeep, Sunil Kumar, Harvinder, Sanjeev, Amit, Man Singh, W/Cts. Ritu, Renu, Mamta, Sukanya, Cts Ajay, Bijender, Jasmer, Manoj Kumar and Sonu Singh was constituted under the overall supervision of Addl. CP K.K. Vyas. Accordingly, a raid was conducted in the Mahipalpur area, where both the women were kept in confinement and during the raid, 20 more women were found. All of them were rescued. All the women were produced in the Patiala House Court and were sent to Nari Niketan.

On 03.09.2016, accused Bidya Lama was arrested from Patiala House Courts, who is involved in this international human trafficking racket. She is the care taker of shelter house situated in Mahipalpur, Delhi, who illegally confined both the women and restricted their movements. She was taken on one day police custody remand.  On 3.9.16, all the rescued 22 women were sent to Nari Niketan after getting recorded their statements u/s 164 CrPC. Officials of Nepal Embassy and an NGO were informed about the rescued women for their rehabilitation.

On 4.09.2016, the kingpin and prime accused Shabin Shah @ Shobin Keshi was arrested at the instance of lady accused Bidya Lama from his premises in Roopnagar. From his possession, 2 passports belonging to victims and 5 mobile phones were recovered. 4 more women including 3 Nepalese and 1 Indian were also rescued from this place in Roopnagar. All the rescued women have been sent to Nari Niketan for their safety and rehabilitation.

INTERROGATION: - During sustained interrogation of the rescued women and the arrested accused Shabin Shah @ Shobhin Keshi and Bidya Lama, it has been revealed that accused Shabin Shah @ Keshi is the kingpin and prime accused of this international human trafficking racket spread in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Dubai and Oman and they use Delhi as the hub and transit point for this racket. He is running this racket since 2011 and has rented premises at Mahipalpur and Roopnagar areas for receiving, lodging and transferring women. He claims to have sent around 1500 women belonging to India and Nepal to Gulf countries illegally so far. He has s number of agents, who are active in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Oman, Kuwait, Dubai and India.

Both the complainant victims of the case were brought to Delhi and kept in a flat in Mahipalpur, which belongs to the accused. They were kept in a dark room and were told that their departure to and employment in Dubai was confirmed as well valid and they will be sent from Delhi. After reaching Delhi, accused informed them that they had to go to Dubai via Colombo, Sri Lanka on tourist visa, where they had to stay for few days and then they would go to Dubai. This was contrary to the earlier promise that they would be sent to Dubai from Delhi directly. He also demanded huge money for this and on the refusal by women, they were confined in a dark room as stated above. In the meanwhile, accused got tourist and online visa for the victims via Sri Lanka route and again asked for huge money. Sensing the danger, both women escaped finding an opportunity from the flat and reached Nepal Embassy and reported the matter to Crime Branch.

This international human trafficking racket targets, married, illiterate and poor women of Nepal and NE India. The agents based in Nepal allure the women for providing employment in Gulf countries and handsome salary. The interested women are asked to get prepared their passports and arrange money for expenditure incurred over these journey and employment. After crossing India-Nepal border, these women got shelter in the accused’s rented premises in Mahipalpur and Roopnagar area. Accused Bidya Lama looked after them and kept the women in confinement.

There is a strict provision in immigration rules of India and Nepal for grant of employment visa of Gulf countries for illiterate and poor women, hence, agents preferred Sri Lanka route and obtain tourist visa for these women and avoid the checking in India and prospective offloading.

As per the Emigration Act 1983, Emigration Check Required (ECR) categories of Indian passport holders, require to obtain “Emigration Clearance” from the office of Protector of Emigrants (POE), Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for going to following 18 countries.

United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordon, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Thailand, Iraq (emigration banned).

After reaching Colombo, the women are sent to Gulf countries through employment visa. For this, the agents used to charge Rs. 50 to 60,000/- per woman for travelling to Delhi, visa for Sri Lanka, Gulf countries and air tickets for Colombo and Dubai. After that, these women were provided jobs as house maids in homes or work in shopping malls, restaurants, hospitals etc. After providing job the agents also used to take Rs.5000 per month from women as their commission. The agents based in Gulf countries arranged jobs and employment visa for these women and their charges commission after these women gets employment. The charged commission is further distributed to Delhi based agents. There is a complete chain and understanding between agents based in Nepal, Delhi, Sri Lanka and Gulf countries. The employment visa of Sri Lanka and Gulf countries was obtained online by agents based Gulf countries. Accused Shabin used to save Rs. 20 to 30 thousand per woman on her employment, travelling, visa, sheltering, lodging etc as his share.

In the month of July, 2016, accused Shabin Shah sent 12 Nepali women to Sri Lanka on tourist visa for further transmission to Dubai. 36 more women of Nepal were also sent to Colombo alongwith there 12, the agents being different but they could not get employment visa for Gulf countries. All the 48 women were confined in a hotel by the agents. One of the girls lodged a police report in Colombo. Further, the Nepal police has also rescued few girls in Kathmandu and a case has been registered in the area of Hanuman Dhoka, Kathmandu, Nepal in which accused Shabin Shah is wanted. However, complete details are being obtained from Nepal police in this regard.