AIZAWL:The alleged kingpin of a gang behind the trafficking of four Mizo girls, rescued recently from a prostitution racket in Mumbai, was brought to Mizoram, police said.
After arrival at Lengpui Airport on Saturday, Gopal Dhokal Mandal was immediately brought from Kolasib Police Station in northern Mizoram where a case against the four Mizo girls had been registered.
Wanted in a number of cases, Gopal Dhokal Mandal was arrested by the Mumbai police on June 27 and the Mumbai special court booked him under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) and remanded him in judicial custody till July 7.
The Mizoram police was allowed by the court to take the accused to Aizawl after July 7. His arrest came six days after the Mizoram police rescued two Mizo girls from a prostitution racket in Mumbai’s Jung Santacruz.
The rescued girls said they were in Guwahati during the end of last year looking for jobs and were brought to Mumbai from the northeastern city by a Mizo woman Zodingliani and Mandal in the beginning of this year.
Mandal reportedly purchased the Mizo girls from Zodingliani and again sold them into sex trade. Zodingliani and her husband-accomplice Shodit Hasta Thapa, arrested on June 21 in Mumbai by Mizoram police, are being incarcerated in Kolasib district jail.
The three have been booked under section 5 (1)(b)(c)(d) of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956.Sources said, Mandal originally hailed from Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand state. He landed in Mumbai in 2005 and started as an auto-rickshaw driver-cum-pimp. He lives in a mansion at Sundar Sagar Complex in Mumba’s Thane district with his wife and two kids. He was allegedly involved in the trafficking of girls of different nationalities, including the Northeast Indian girls.
After the two Mizo girls were rescued on June 21, the two others were rescued on June 29. The victims were taken to a rehabilitation centre for counselling, police said. (UNI)
