Five held for kidnap, trafficking of minor girl

Visakhapatnam, Sept 26: Five persons were today arrested for allegedly kidnapping and trafficking a 17-year-old girl, city police said.

The arrested accused were identified as M Mani, K Prasad, Ch Prabhu, G Ganga and M Dharmavathi. ACP (East) A Narasimha Murthy said the minor girl had run away from home in January 2016.

"Noticing that the girl was alone at RTC Complex in Visakhapatnam city, M Mani took the girl to her on the pretext of providing food and shelter. After few days, Mani pushed the girl into flesh trade. Later, Mani along with her gang sold the girl to Chotu, organiser of a brothel house at Elamanchili in the district at Rs 30,000," he said.

A few days back, the girl had escaped from the clutches of Chotu and came to Visakhapatnam and was later admitted to Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) night shelter. "The girl narrated the matter to the GVMC staff. Based on the complaint by the caretaker of the shelter, the police investigated the case and arrested the five persons," Murthy said.

PTI