NIA arrests human trafficker for sending boys, girls from Jharkhand to Delhi

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested a person for his alleged involvement in running a human trafficking racket under the guise of placement agencies in Jharkhand and supplying boys and girls to clients in Delhi, an official said.

Shiv Shankar Ganjhu, 41, of Jharkhand's Khunti district, is the owner of two placement agencies -- Laxmi Placement Service and Birsa Security and Placement -- which were being operated by his brother and notorious kingpin of human trafficking racket in Jharkhand and Delhi, Panna Lal Mahto, who was earlier arrested in the case, an NIA spokesperson said.

The case arose out of an FIR lodged in July, 2019 at Khunti under sections of the IPC and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act. The NIA took up the investigation in March last year.

Mahto and his wife Sunita Devi were operating the human trafficking racket under the guise of three placement agencies in Delhi, the NIA official said.

They used to bring poor and innocent minor boys and girls from Jharkhand on the pretext of providing them jobs in Delhi and neighbouring states. However, they were exploited and never paid the promised remunerations, the official said.

Ganjhu, who was arrested from Khunti, had played a significant role in trafficking minors from Jharkhand, the NIA official said.

He was produced before a special NIA court in Ranchi which remanded him in four-day custody, the official said, adding that further investigation was underway.