Sold To Rajasthan Man, Married Woman Of Odisha’s Jharsuguda Rescued; 5 Arrested

Jarsuguda: A married woman from Jharsuguda, who had left her in-law’s house due to differences with her husband, had to pay a heavy price as some people, suspected to be human traffickers, took advantage of her condition and allegedly sold her to a man in Rajasthan.

According to police sources, the woman of Sakhipada in Sambalpur city had married Krishna Kumar of Jharsuguda and both of them were staying in Puruna Basti. Recently, differences cropped up between the couple and there were frequent fights between them over petty matters. Upset with her husband, the woman left his house and went to stay with one of her old acquaintances, Kiran Sethi in Bhuliatikra in Jharsuguda town.

Later, Krishna came to know whereabout of his wife and went to Kiran’s house to get her back. But Kiran told him that she was not staying with him and he did not where she had gone.

After a few days, Krishna’s wife called up her friend Asraf and told him that Kiran along with Hrusikesh Sethi, Danish Behera and Rajani Bai had sold her to one Manoj Prajapati of Rajasthan for Rs 1.5 lakh. She was forcibly married to Manoj despite her opposition. She fervently appealed to Asraf to rescue her.

On getting the call, Asraf immediately informed Krishna who filed a complaint at Jharsuguda Town police station on April 7.

Speaking to the media, Jharsuguda SP, Bikash Chandra Dash said Krishna in his complaint stated that some people had taken away the woman from Jharsuguda and was forcibly married off in Rajasthan. Two special teams were formed to investigate into the incident.

During the investigation, police traced the woman in Neemuch of Madhya Pradesh. Accordingly a police team went to Neemuch and another to Rajasthan.

Kiran, Hrusikesh and Danish were arrested on April 7 and Rajani and Manoj Prajapati on April 13. The woman was rescued from Neemuch.

Manoj has reportedly admitted to the police that he had given Rs 1.5 lakh to Rajani to marry the woman but did not know that she was already married.