THE POLICE on Monday arrested one more person in connection with a child trafficking case in Bankura district, taking the total number of arrests to nine. The accused is a grocery shop owner and allegedly acted as a “middleman”, police said. A team of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights also visited Bankura and met the five children who were rescued by the police.
According to sources, police also seized more than Rs 1 lakh.
According to sources, The earlier arrested accused is a teacher of the school and her husband is a close relative of the suspect arrested on Monday. While three of those arrested are in police custody, four other accused have been remanded to judicial custody.
After the arrests, TMC leaders shared a picture of the accused with a BJP MP, alleging that the leader has “links with the accused”.
The BJP, however, rubbished the allegations against the MP, saying the claims are “false”.
The racket was busted when a local panchayat chief noticed two children crying and they were allegedly being forced into a vehicle. Police claimed that a school principal, who is also among the arrested, had kept the two minor girls in his house for two years.
