MANGALDAI, May 21 � In a very sad commentary on the present state of affairs in the society, a young girl was lured by false promises of love and marriage, and then the person she had fallen in love with tried to sell her for sex trade. When the attempt failed, she was raped and murdered.
This is the tragic story of a 15-year-old girl from a poor family of Balabari village under Dhula Police Station in Darrang district. Her beheaded body was recovered from the Deepor Beel area of Guwahati recently and further investigation into the case has led to the unravelling of similar stories of many such victims of a well-organised trafficking racket, spread from Darrang to Guwahati and Delhi.
In connection with the case, registered at the Dhula PS (No. 129/15, U/S 366(A)/109/120(B)/371/372/302/201 IPC), a police team led by investigating officer Dr Rashmi Rekha Sarma, DSP (Probationary), has managed to arrest and send five persons to judicial custody from different locations of Darrang. The cops are also close on the heels of nabbing the absconding sixth member of the notorious gang.
On the basis of an FIR lodged by victim�s father regarding her missing status, the police tracked the mobile phone used by Masooma and interrogated one Sahadur Rahman, a BCom last semester student of Kharupetia College and a resident of Batabari under the Dhula PS. The police gathered vital clues, leading to the arrest of Fazar Ali of Panbari and Fazibur Rahman of Ondolajhar under the Dhula PS and the recovery of the victim�s body, cut into two parts in an attempt to conceal evidence.
As admitted by the culprits during police interrogation, Sahadur took Masooma to Delhi and with the help of two other accomplices � Malek Ali and Abdul Ali, who were already in Delhi � tried to sell her to sex racketeers for a sum of Rs 1 lakh. But as they failed to get the expected price, she was brought back to Guwahati on the very next day.
On reaching Guwahati, she was first taken to the rented house of Fazibur at Boragaon by Sahadur in an autorickshaw from the Kamakhya Railway Station. They were followed by Ahmad Ali and Fazal Ali who had been waiting for them at the station. At Fazibur�s house, she was raped by all the four before she was brutally murdered.
After taking into custody Sahadur, Fazal and Fazibur, the police on May 7 arrested Ahmad Ali of Madhuchar under the Shyampur PS. The police achieved another breakthrough on Sunday night when Malek Ali was arrested from his home at No. 2 Algachar village under the Dhula PS. However, the last member of the gang, Abdul Ali, is still at large.
The accused five have already confessed to kidnapping and selling of another woman from the Kharupetia area in the same manner and the investigating police officer is hopeful of bringing to light many more such cases in the State on further investigation.
