Wrong numbers are a common occurrence and most of the times no fruitful result comes from them. But can a wrong number save someone’s life? This is exactly what happened when a wrong number led the police straight to human traffickers.
Sex trafficking has been a rampant crime where hundreds of girls, most of them minors are sold to brothels for huge sums of money. Its huge network is difficult to penetrate and traffickers take advantage of this very fact, using it to ruin lives. But these criminals never thought in their wildest dreams that a simple mistake would ruin all their plans.
The incident occurred on November 23, 2017, when Station House Officer (SHO) Sunil Kumar at Kamla Market Police Station in GB Road area in Central Delhi, was called by the accused Amar (24) and Ranjeet Shah (27) who said that they found it on YouTube, written on the wall of a brothel as reported by Indian Express.
It was not long before the SHO realised that they were mistaking him for a brothel owner and were trying to sell a “beautiful” minor girl. The SHO played along posing as a brothel owner and struck a deal with them.
As reported by Hindustan Times, the SHO told the callers that he would send men to pick up the girl. Two constables Gulab and Sunder were sent to deal with the callers. DCP MS Randhawa said,
“Our officers met Amar outside the railway station. However, he had come without the child. Amar demanded ₹3.5 lakh for the minor girl. Our team fixed the deal at ₹2.3 lakh. They agreed and promised to hand over the girl on Wednesday at Iffco Chowk in Gurgaon.”
The police almost failed at their plan to trap the criminals when they changed the location to New Delhi Railway Station at the last minute. The police then laid a trap near the Railway Station where the constables paid the men ₹20,000 as an advance, after which they brought the girl.
The policemen in plain clothes did not waste any time in nabbing the men. During interrogation, they found out that the man Amar had tricked the girl into eloping with him to Delhi and established physical relations with her. After that, he and his friend decided to sell her off and flee Delhi.
It was only because of the intelligent response and prompt action of the police that the girl was rescued safe and sound from the clutches of the criminals. Police also suspect that the man who gave them the number may have done it deliberately to frame them.