Another Couple Caught For Flesh Trade Links In Bhubaneswar

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Bhubaneswar: A couple with suspected link to the Bangladeshi flesh trade racket in the city was arrested by a Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch here on Wednesday.

The accused were identified as Panchanan Padhi and his wife Preeti Padhi.

The two were caught when allegedly trying to sell a girl to a customer in the city. The sleuths also seized a car from their possession.

“Panchanan and Preeti were major brokers of the racket which was run by arrested couple Ibrahim Khan and Ruksar Begum,” STF DIG Jai Narayan Pankaj said.

The STF was verifying whether the victim and Preeti are natives of Bangladesh.

On January 21, STF had arrested Ibrahim and Ruksar of Danagohiri and rescued six women from Bhubaneswar’s Old Town area. Then on January 31, they had rescued another woman who was forced into the trade by Ibrahim and his wife.

Of the eight victims rescued so far, six are from Bangladesh while one is a native of Sonagachi in Kolkata, an investigating officer said.