Balangir: Odisha Police have busted a human trafficking racket, which was allegedly being operated by a librarian of KV College in Balangir’s Kantabanji.
While a joint team of Balangir police along with district labour officials led to the rescue of 55 labourers, including 14 children, the accused, Prakash Behera, who allegedly ran a well-organised human trafficking racket along with his brother Brajesh Behera, managed to escape before the raid on his house at Ward No. 8, Kantabanji, late on Friday.
The duo allegedly lured victims with false promises, only to force them into exploitative labour at brick kilns and construction sites in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu under debt bondage. .
The rescued individuals, mostly from tribal and Dalit communities in Balangir and Nuapada districts, are now in a temporary shelter, receiving counselling and rehabilitation support from state labour and child welfare departments.
Police also seized Rs 1.67 lakh in cash, 15 bank passbooks, a firearm, gold jewellery, and documents suspected to contain details of financial transactions and illegal labour contracts. A case has been registered under sections related to human trafficking, bonded labour, illegal confinement, and arms possession and a manhunt launched to nab Behera and his brother.