Bhopal/Bhubaneswar: Police have rescued a 50-year-old woman, who was allegedly trafficked from Odisha and sold for Rs 1 lakh to work as a domestic helper in Madhya Pradesh.
She was rescued from a village in Chhindwara district earlier this week. Due to her inability to speak anything but Odia, communication was challenging until her relatives arrived, enabling police to register a case against five suspects, all of whom were later arrested. The group included two Odisha residents who sold her, a middleman from Narsinghpur, and two buyers from Chhindwara.
They have been identified as Kandarp Nayak, 32, Nandini Nayak, 48, both residents of Odisha, Rakesh Shukla, 36, a resident of Narsinghpur, Chhidami Malviya, 55, and Neeraj Malviya, 28, both residents of Guraiya village in Chhindwara, were arrested.
According to the woman, Kandarp Nayak and Nandini Nayak approached her in Devgarh, where she had gone on March 26 for treatment and offered her a job with better wages in Madhya Pradesh. They then took her to Narsinghpur district, where, with the help of Rakesh Shukla, they sold the woman to father-son duo Chhidami and Neeraj Malviya for Rs 1 lakh.
“The woman was unaware all the time. After a month, when she sought wages, she was told by the accused that they bought her,” Singori police outpost in-charge Pankaj Rai told TOI.